The Girl Who Wanted No Gift - Part 1: Ability
by RyanF0ster0001
Summary: This is the story of a powerful ability user named Kaiya, who comes to Yokohama with her friend Howl to seek out Osamu Dazai to erase her dangerous ability. But then when she thought things could turn out for the worst, Kaiya gets taken by the Port Mafia who craves for the interest in her mysterious ability. (First FanFic - Hope You Enjoy!)
1. Prolouge

Prologue:

It has only been two days since we arrived in the city of Yokohama. I look out into the dazzling city lights from our crappy apartment room. Peeling walls, cracked glass, creaky wooden floors, if you could have put these things in a vocabulary list to a " five-star hotel" you would have thought we wanted this hole, but it's the only thing we could afford with the limited money we have.

It was around the middle of the night, I couldn't sleep a wink. After me and my best friend, Howl, entered the city of Yokohama, we had been trying to search the city for someone. Someone who can be able to take away the sorrows of my gift, who can save me and others from myself and can erase all the fear I have because of my ability. His name… is Osamu Dazai.

"Can't sleep?" the familiar voice of Howl asked me from behind my ear as he, wrapped his arms around my shoulders in a warm embrace. Strands of his white hair gleamed in the moonlight from the corner of my eye, looking almost as if they were silver threads of a spider's web. "What are you thinking about?"

"About him. Dazai." I leaned into his shoulder, snuggling up against the warm heat of his arms and chest. "I'm nervous about when I meet him. What do I say? How do I ask him? What if….What if he doesn't want to help me?"

"Now what made you think something like that?" He holds me tighter, placing his chin atop on my head.

'_Everything_'. I want to say, everything that I've been through has been nothing but a nightmare up until this point. Because the difference between then and now was that I didn't have an ability.

I was a normal girl growing up in the small city Onomichi with my mother and father. Since I was young, I had always been prone to sickness. My body was weak, and I would constantly get sick, but I can't say that my childhood was horrible or miserable. I had a family that loved and cared for me and I was happy being the way I am despite my sickness. However, in every person's life, regardless of whether they're good or bad, there would always be a moment where things would turn for the worst.

Everything changed after I got into a car accident, both of my parents died. I was the only survivor and was said to be diagnosed with amnesia. I couldn't remember my family, my name, my abilities, or even how I ended up in the hospital before they told me. After their funeral weeks later, I was sent to a foster home in Tokyo.

A couple of months flew by. Then one night, all the other kids that liked to pick on me because of my sickness, started to gang-up on me when I was busy cleaning up from dinner, beating me up, and calling me names. I wanted them to stop, I wanted to hurt them back, but I didn't know what to expect when I suddenly was able to shoot fire out of my hands and white light out of my body. In fear, I ended up burning down the foster home and ran away, hoping that I would be a lot safer if no one got hurt. Days later I was alone on the streets, cold, tired, and was just on the verge of hunger. Then, just as I thought I wouldn't be able to survive much longer, a giant white wolf found me. And that's when I met Howl.

He was an ability user like me, so we shared a mutual connection with each other. Though I tried to get away from him, saying that I didn't need help, he took me to his hideout in an abandoned warehouse and nursed me back to health. When he asked me why I was alone and out on the streets, for some reason, I felt like he could be trusted, and so I told him everything. About my powers, the accident, and the fire. Even though at the time it didn't mean much, Howl told me that I could stay with him for as long as I needed and that he would help me find a way to control my ability. Since then I've lived with Howl, and he became my closest friend. He gave me shelter, food, and water and would always take the time to listen to the ever-growing nightmare I would have about losing control of my ability. In a way, to me, he was like a second only thing that he couldn't do was to help me control my powers. A couple of attempts we tried, made a few tests and experiments to see if I could try, but I nearly end up burning things down and most times we nearly get caught by the polices.

So as while sneaking into the library every so often, Howl slowly learned how to develop a drug to stop my ability from growing any stronger and keep it from growing out of control. And for that, I was forever grateful to him.

We stayed on the streets for a little more then a couple of years, until we heard rumors that there was an ability user in Yokohama who could take away another person's ability. I felt my hopes rise, I thought this would be the only way I would be able to live a normal life again. At once, we started to head for Yokohama, we had to travel through the backs of pickup trucks, car carriers and even had to sneak onto the bullet train just get through to the rest of the way to save time.

But now that we are actually here and Osamu Dazai could be almost anywhere in the city, I started to doubt about the possibility he would help me. Maybe he wouldn't, maybe he would just tell me something like that is not possible. Maybe...Maybe he wouldn't be able to do it cause he doesn't want to...

I hear Howl quietly sighs, grabbing my arms and gently turning my body to face him. As I look into his bluebell eyes, he tucks a lock of my hair behind my ear. He whispers, "I_ know_ he will help you Kaiya. After everything you've been through, I have faith in that he will. But Kaiya even if he won't, I need you to remember something very important… No matter what, _never forget_….."

I couldn't really hear what he said. I was beginning to get so tired and sleepy, all his words were muffled, they began to fade, and I was beginning to lose consciousness and my eyes were starting to close on their own.

The last thing I remember from that night was feeling him pull me into his chest, holding me tight as his hand combs through my hair and hearing him hum a sweet lullaby just before I enter into a deep slumber.

Soon, when the sun rises above the city of Yokohama, we will set off again, this time, to the place where we know he is sure to be; the Armed Detective Agency.

* * *

Author's Note:

Hi, my name is RyanF0ster.

This is my first story and I'm pretty sure there are a lot of errors that you could point out for me, but hey, that's what you're here for. If there is any constructive criticism you all would like to share and help me out, I would gladly accept it if you type a comment down below.

Characters included in the story:

Atsushi Nakajima • Osamu Dazai • Doppo Kunikida • Ranpo Edogawa • Junichirō Tanizaki • Kenji Miyazawa • Akiko Yosano • Naomi Tanizaki • Yukichi Fukuzawa • Kyōka Izumi • Ryūnosuke Akutagawa • Chūya Nakahara • Ogai Mori • Elise • Ichiyo Higuchi • Ryūrō Tachihara • Gin Akutagawa • Tachihara Michizō • Kōyō Ozaki •

OC's • Kaiya (Special Ability: {Not yet suckers})• Howl (Special Ability: Beast Soul) • Noel • Nana (EXTRAS)

[I do not own any of the Bungou Stray Dog characters or the anime, but I am part-owner of the OC characters. This is a story was inspired by the idea of a close friend of mine, who gave me permission to write this story along with her help. Thank you.]

Note: this story takes place AFTER the Season 3…. (JTLYK)


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: (Atsushi. N. POV)

Walking around the streets of Yokohama, me and Kyōka were patrolling the city with our superior Kunikida. He was constantly going over the schedule we were supposed to follow, all written in his notebook. Kyōka and I were asked to help Kunikida with his packed schedule as a favor from, Dr. Yosano. We were more than happy to do it at first, but even though we had only just started, I was starting to regret accepting the favor.

"Then at _10:37_, we are scheduled to meet with a client about a recent burglary that happened yesterday around the east market district. Then at _11_, we are called to make an appearance at the harbor, to help inspect a truckload of boxes that are under suspicion of carrying illegal drugs that have been smuggled from overseas. At _11:34_, we will take a taxi to the agency where we will do this morning's reports and you both will have some time to rest at _12:50_, but then at _1_ we will need to go back out to do another parol…"

He's been going through his schedule ever since we left the agency. The plans he makes are crazy. The day was packed, from 9 to 4, with only giving us ten minutes of break before spending another _3 hours_ walking around the city. I felt my legs turn numb and my mind go blank with every step I took. '_I'm sooooo tired….'_

"Hey! I said did you get all that?" I snap back to reality and straighten my back, unaware that Kunikida already finished. He faced me, looking very mad. His face was only a few inches away from mine and I could feel his cold gaze piercing through me.

"Ahh, yes! I mean— I did! I was listening, so no need to get so close…." I pulled away from Kunikida as I held my hands up in defense of getting a bashing from him.

"Really?" He asked in disbelief as he checked through his notebook. "Then tell me, in today's plan what are we suppose to do after _2:54 pm_?"

My mind went in a panic as my body stood still and stiff. Sweat rolled down my face as I tried hard to remember, Kunikida was beginning to lose his patience with me. His arms crossed over his chest as he leaned onto the side, and he continuously shot me that icy cold stare.

I look at Kyōka, her face was unreadable. She would have probably remembered at least _half_ the schedule since she was paying attention, but I'm pretty sure Kunikida would not allow any word out of her if not for him asking the question directly to _me_.

"Well?" His glare became too intense for me to handle, he looked like he could pop a brain vessel any moment! _'I'm dead.'_

"Um… a-after _2:54_, we—"

Suddenly, the sound of a gunshot broke out somewhere in the distance followed by the sound of a small blast. A large crowd of people coming from the same direction came running down the street, passing us as they ran away in a panic.

"Hey, you!" Kunikida grabbed a man running by arm of his shirt, pulling him towards us. "You came from the direction of the gunfire right? Tell me what happened."

"I-I don't know! It all happened so fast!" The man stuttered as he trembled at his own words. (Or that could have been just Kunikida). Eyes wide from the panic that was racing through his head. "W- Wait- I remember seeing a girl before it happened. She yelled to everyone, saying that we needed to get out of the area because there were hostages in a nearby café."

"Why would she say that? Did she know hostages were kept inside? How?" Kunikida asked the man, and without meaning it, gave him an intimidating glare.

"I don't know," He answered truthfully, swallowing a gulp in his throat, trying to not seemed phased by it. "she ran into a café, and then we heard bullet-shots. It broke through the windows, glass went flying, we heard an explosion, and we all started running away."

_Did she go inside? _I thought. _But why? How did she know there were hostages inside- Wait! If she went in a second after the gunfire and explosion, she not have survived!_

Kunikida lets go of the man's arm, and without a second thought, starts to sprint in the direction of the café. Me and Kyōka, exchanged a surprised look before we both started running after him.

* * *

As we approached the café, police officers were outside, their cars forming a barricade around the small shop. As the man said, glass laid below the café windows were scattered all over the sidewalk and I spotted small bronze bullet shells not too far away from the window shards.

Kunikida approached an older looking police officer that was talking on the transceiver in his police car, I assumed he is the one in charge. "We heard the explosion, do you know what happened here?"

The officer gave us a stern face as he said, "Why you wanna know? Who are you people, do you have clearance?"

"We're agents from the Armed Detective Agency. We heard that the men in this café were taking hostages." Kunikida explained, as he showed him his badge and told him what the man from earlier told us.

"Oh, well I'm sorry to say, but the perpetrators were already captured and taken into custody just a couple of moments ago after the incident occurred." The officer explained, pointing to the backseat of the car, where there sat two men in black coats and were in steel cuffs. "The hostages are safe too. They said that they were saved by a girl who they claim to be an ability user. Was she by chance any of your members?"

"No, we were nearby, we only just heard about it less than a couple of minutes ago," I explain to the officer, feeling a conflicted. "We don't have any other girl, members except for Kyōka, but she was with us the whole time." _If that was the case, could there be an ability user somewhere, running loose in the city?_

I unconsciously look around to where the café stood. Though all the costumers, who were taken as hostages had already left, the employees were still there. Two of them sat down on a nearby bench beside the shop, drinking some bottles of water the police provided them.

"Could we please question the café's staff, before you take them in?" I asked, wanting to get some insight on what happened, and curious about this mysterious ability user.

"By all means. I'll give you 10 minutes with them, but after that, well haft to take them off your hands." Another officer calls out to him from the patrol car and he leaves us to our work.

The employees, both a guy and a girl, saw us coming as we approached them, they both looked to be somewhere around Junichirō's age. They wore the same worn-out black working aprons and plain white t-shirts underneath. Barely visible scratches covered their arms, though the guy had a deep purple bruise covering his left eye.

Kunikida was first to greet the group. "Hello, my name is Kunikida. These are my subordinates Atsushi and Kyōka. If you don't mind, we would like to ask you three a couple of questions about what recently happened."

"Why? We already gave our questions to the police." The guy spat down at the pavement as he gave Kunikida a look of annoyance through his black bangs. "We don't need to answer any more shit to you people." I don't know if he's either trying to intimidate us, or just piss Kunikia off. _('Cause it seems to be working.')_

"Quiet you!" The girl, who was sitting next to him hissed in his ear as she gave him I slight shove on the shoulder. "Even in front of the police, you still act like a jerk."

She got up from the bench, bowing to us apologetically low. "I'm very sorry. Excuse my friend Noel, he's _usually_ like this." She said, sounding a little embarrassed more than annoyed of him. She had brown almond hair tied up in a high bun and bright blue eyes that shined behind her red-framed glasses. "My name is Nana. We would be happy to answer some questions." Behind her, I hear Noel let's out an uncomfortable sigh.

"Thank you. Can you please make a run-through of what happened?" Kunikida asked as he grabbed out his notebook and was ready to take down notes.

"Well, it started somewhere right after nine o'clock. The café was not very busy, barely any costumers came by, so we were short-staffed with only me and Noel taking the shift, from the morning until noon. Anyway, I was serving tea and cakes to the customers while Noel was at the station preparing the food and drinks. Things were going on smoothly. At one point, I noticed two men walking into the shop wearing thick black coats, which I thought was strange since we're in the middle of August, the temperature was hot outside and no other costumers had any long-sleeved clothing. I didn't think much of it at first, but just as the door closed, they both pulled out pistols. Everyone saw and they all started to freak out. They shouted at us to get down on the floor, or he would shoot a bullet through our heads…"

Her voice trembles as she was reaching closer to the climax, I notice her hands shaking as she crunches up the bottom of her apron. "We all got down to the floor and Noel was told to step away from him this station and he got down next to me. Then, one of the men told me to lock up the shop or we would all die… I was so scared I could barely move. I didn't know what to do— my voice wouldn't come out, I-I—"

Coming from behind, Noel wrapped his arm around Nana's shoulder, snapping her out of the memory and back into reality. She looked like she was about to throw up. Giving her a reassuring squeeze on the arm, he turned to Kunikida, this time in a less aggressive manner. "That's enough, I'll finish for her. You mind?"

"Not at all she can rest… I'm very sorry, I didn't know the incident was giving this kind of effect on her." Kunikida gave a sympathetic expression as Nana walked away sitting back down on the bench, taking deep breaths and slowly sipping the rest of her water.

"Figures _you_ would know what that's like," Noel commenting on Kunikida in a sarcastic tone. Before Kunikida could snap back at Noel, he continued from where Nana left off.

"As Nana said, one of the guys threatened to shoot if she didn't do what they said. The man told Nana to lock the door, but just by looking at her, you could tell she would barely move even if you asked. They began to get impatient, he kept screaming that if she didn't do what he said, he would shoot everyone. When she didn't comply the second time, the other man stomped towards her and delivered her a kick in the stomach telling her to do as she was god-dam told. I got mad and I was gonna land a hit to the bastards face, but then-"

" 'He dodged your attack and punched you in the eye.' Right?" Kunikida stated, finishing his sentence gesturing to his left eye.

"Well, they don't call you detectives for nothing," Noel grumbled under his breath, sounding unimpressed as he brushes his hand against his bruised eye.

"But yeah, felt my eye began to swell as soon as I hit the floor. The guy was gonna shoot me then and there, but then the door slammed open and a girl came running in towards us both. The man pointed his gun at her and started to shoot, but somehow she was able to dodge them cause the next thing I know the glass and broke the windows. She blasted him with a ball of white fire that appeared out of nowhere. Send him flying across the room."

Then just as the other shooter was about to pull the trigger on her, a giant white wolf entered from the window and went charging towards him just as he started shooting. The wolf was able to dodge the bullets, it jumped on the guy and pin him down."

"Then what happened after that?" Kyōka asked as from behind me and Kunikida holding a note pad in her hand and scribbling down notes with a pen in the other.

"Um- the girl tied them up, and the wolf told me and Nana to call the police and lead everyone out of the café."

"Wait, you said, _'the wolf told you'_," I asked, a little surprised by his sudden statement of a 'talking wolf'. "You mean it _spoke_ to you?"

"Yeah, as crazy as it sounds, it did," Noel said this as he scratched a finger under his cheek. "They left after that and the rest is just what the police told you."

"Possible case is that the wolf could be another ability user that can change and alter their shape." Kunikida mumbles to himself as he wrote a few notes down. "Did you happen to see where they both went?"

"I saw them heading into that alleyway over there," Nana called to us as she pointed to an open passageway to an alley from across the road. "They seemed to be off in a hurry."

"I see." Kunikida said as he suspiciously eyes the alleyway from the corner of his eye. He looks back at Noah and Nana. "Thank you for your time."

"It was no problem." Nana sweetly said as she gave us another low bow. She nudged Noel by the shoulder and he gave us a low bow in spite of not wanting to.

The police officers came and took them both away, and while doing that, we went to go investigate the alleyway. We didn't find anything out of the ordinary, only a couple of trash bins and rustic pipes that traveled across and in the inner walls. Then, as I was searching through a bin Kunikia told me to search, we heard Kyōka say, "I found blood."

For a second I felt my heart sank, I stopped what I was doing, jumped out of the bin, and got next to Kyōka, followed shortly by Kunikida. Indeed there was blood, but only a small puddle of it that was smeared across the pavement. _Could it belong to them? Could they be injured?_

"Good job Kyōka," Kunikida said as he pulled out a black cellphone and started dialing a number, "I'll call the agency and let them know that we may have some new ability users in the city."

"Why? Is there really a big deal in doing that?" I asked Kyōka as Kunikida held the phone to his ear and began to talk on the phone.

"Depends." She answered crouching to the ground. She pulled out a small plastic bag and cotton wool out of her kimono sleeve as she collected the blood.

"Depends on what?" I asked a little perplexed by her response. "You need to be a bit more specific."

"It depends," She stuffed the evidence back into her sleeve and standing back up dusting the dirt and rubble from her kimono. "if they caught the attention of the Port Mafia. If the organization got wind that there're are new ability users in Yokohama, they could put themselves and others in mortal danger."

"In danger? How so? Is it because of their abilities?" I asked as we both began walking out of the alley and look for Kunikida.

"Yes. The Port Mafia would take a great interest if there were people who could have abilities like that, they would easily manipulate them and turn them over to their side. So to make sure it would never come to it, finding and protecting them would be our top priority."

Since the incident was resolved and all the hostages have been checked as safe, the police were wrapping up the scene and heading out in their patrol cars. We saw Kunikida by the café, that was now blocked off by yellow police tape on the door and windows. He had just hung up the phone, and let out a heavy sigh. He rubbed his fingers between his temples as if he was having a migraine.

He quickly recovered as we approach him. "Did you collect the blood sample?" We gave him a quick nod. "Good. Let's go, we're heading back to the office." Kunikida started to walk off in a fast pace, with me and Kyōka following him from behind.

"What about your schedule?" I asked him as I was able to catch up to his side and started walking at the same pace as he did.

He sighs placing his hand on his temples as if I reminded of news he wishes he didn't hear. "As much as you were excited to help me with my plans today," _Yeah, not really._ "they will have to be postponed for now. The President instructed us to come back to the agency so we can discuss the plan to—"

Kunikida was interrupted by the ringtone coming from his phone. He took it out from his back pocket and answered the call, placing the phone to his ear.

"Hello? Yosano? I already got word from the President, just give us a—… wait, what?" His serious expression shifts and his eyes widen with shock as a gasp escapes as he speaks. "Hold on, you're saying they're at the agency?….Really?… Okay, we'll be there soon…" He hangs up on the phone, he turns to me and Kyōka, now wearing a most serious look on his face.

"It seems that we won't haft to look for them after all. I got word from Yosano, they both came into the office. They said they're looking for Dazai."

* * *

I know it wasn't the _best _first chapter, but I'm still improving... Thank You for reading!

Chapter 2 will come out at the end of the following week! (Assuming I get it done in time... No pressure!)


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

After taking a taxi back to the agency, we walked up the flights of stairs and entered the office. Ranpo sat on his desk, snacking down a couple of chips while sitting on a leather sofa in the waiting booth, we see Yosano, Junichirō, and behind them stood the President.

Sitting on the sofa across from them, was a tall tall slender man, with sterling white hair and blue sapphire eyes. He wore a black v-neck long-sleeved shirt and dark navy jeans. Sitting next to him was a young girl, who looked to be somewhere around Kyōka's age. She had brown hazel eyes and dark brunette hair that was all tied up in a ponytail by a single black ribbon. She wore a simple off-white shirt underneath an unzipped hoodie and black jeans, along with a pair of sneakers beside a backpack laying on her feet. Is that her? The girl from the café?

"Sir, what sort of business do you both have with Dazai?" We heard the President ask as we walked closer to the conversation that was going on.

"We ask for his services," the man answered in a deep calm voice. "We came to Yokohama to see him personally for help."

"Would you mind catching me up to what's going on?" Kunikda questions him as we entered the booth.

"Glad you can make it," Yosano said as she gives Kunikida an annoyed eye roll. She extends her arm to the man and girl as she introduces them. "This is Dr. Howl Miyazaki, and his daughter Kaiya. They are from Tokyo who came here to see Dazai. They say they want to '_remove'_ an ability. "

"We've heard stories of your agency," Dr Miyazaki explains. "and of Osamu Dazai. Rumours are that he has an ability that can erase other abilities with just a single touch. We came to Yokohama for that reason."

Does he mean to erase the ability _permanently_? Dazai can't do that, last time I checked, it's not how his ability works. _No Longer Human_ can only erase other user's abilities with a single touch, yes, but unless he has any physical contact with that person, his ability won't activate. _No Longer Human_ can only immobilize and nullify an ability, not erase it.

"But why would you want to erase your abilities though?" Junichirō asked a curious by his statement.

"It's my daughter Kaiya's ability that we want to erase. There have been…_problems_ with her ability." He explains, looking to the floor with hurtful eyes.

"Problem? Can I ask what kind exactly?" Yosano asks, crossing one leg over the other under her long skirt and eyeing Kaiya. Kaiya turns looks at Yosano with an uncomfortable look as she tries avoiding giving eye contact.

"We can't say," Dr Miyazaki places a hand over his daughter's shoulder as he gives Yosano a look of warning. "… the more you don't know about it, the better."

_'__The more we don't know, the better?'_ From behind him, I catch Kaiya staring at me from the corner of her eye, and we both made contact. She quickly turns her eyes away from me and back to the floor, pretending that I didn't notice.

"Dazai won't be coming in till later." Kunikida goes through his notebook and lands on a marked page, which is my guess, today's schedule? "He hasn't been in the office all morning, so best chances he will show up around lunchtime or the mid-afternoon. It'd be best for you both to stay here at the agency and wait for him."

Howl thought for a minute, considering Kunikida's suggestion. He turns to Kaiya, wanting her opinion and she gives him a quick nod. "We have no problems with that," He turns his head from Kunikida to the President. "but if it's not too much trouble, I request that I would like to discuss this further in private."

"I have no objections to your request." He walks out of the booth as he said this. "However, I would like Kunikida to be present with us both as we talk."

"Understood." They both said in unison. Kunikida entered the next room after the President. As Howl was about to follow, he turns back to Kaiya.

"I'll be a while." He smiles gently as he ruffles her hair with his boney-like hand. "Please behave."

"I'm not 8.," she answers in a mumble moving her head away from his hand, a small smile crosses her lips. "Don't take too long."

As he leaves the room, I saw him sneaking a small hurtful smile to her through a crack in the door before it closes.

* * *

An hour passed, since the President, Kunikida, and Dr Miyazaki entered the meeting room, and Dazai still hasn't shown up to the office. Once in a while, when I would go out of the office to collect some files, I would check on Kaiya who was sitting down in the booth, reading a magazine that Yosano lent her as she was listening to music from a pair of bright red headphones. Whenever we made eye contact, she would always give me a small awkward smile and I wave, and I would be compelled into doing the same.

None of us bothered to talk to her, though no one wants to admit it, we all would want to ask the same question to her, whether it was exactly how it sounded or just spoken or said differently.

_'__What is your ability? Why do you want to erase it?'_

I was sitting at my desk, filling out the report on the café incident. Though I was trying to focus on my assignment, I couldn't help but think about when I found out about my ability. When I knew that I could turn into a scary giant man-eating tiger, it took me a while to adjust, to learn to control it, and to accept the fact that it was apart of me. No matter how much I wanted it to go away, I couldn't take my ability back. I don't know what possessed me to even think about those times, I felt depressed, and a little sick. "Excuse me?"

Looking up from my computer screen, I saw Kaiya approaching Junichirō as he was about to head out of the office for the end of his shift. "Do you know when they will be out?" '_She must mean the President, Kunikida, and her dad.' _I thought.

"Um, well," Junichirō stuttered, his voice sounding a little shaken. "I'm not sure what to tell you, miss. They should be out soon, I'm sorry." Junichirō walks away and I hear the door open and close. Sighing silently, but loud enough for me to hear it, Kaiya walks back into the booth. _'She must be bored.' _I thought as I submitting the file and turned off my computer.

I look to the clock that was hanging on the wall across the room from me, it read _12:25 pm_. I give out a tired sigh, it's finally time for an early lunch. Collecting my things in my bag, I started making my way towards the door.

"Hey, Atsushi." I was stopped by the mention of my name. I turn around, Yosano comes up to me holding a couple of stacked documents in her hands. _'Don't tell me she's gonna make me do more work…'_ I moaned in thought as I shrugged my shoulders.

To my surprise, she comes in closer putting a hand to my ear. "Listen, you're going out for lunch now right?" I nodded. "Good. If you wouldn't mind, can you take her with you?" As she points to the booth, she must mean Kaiya. "The girls been cooped up in here for an hour, (so no doubt she is hungry). Plus, I don't think she enjoys spending all her time sitting on her ass alone."

"But—" I was interrupted by Yosano as she grabbed hold of my shoulder, giving it a threatening squeeze.

"Unless you want to assist me in filling out these homicide case files (that can may as well take another 2 hours to finish), I suggest you do as I ask and invite the young lady to lunch." _Nice to know she will give me mercy on me if I don't do this._

"Mind if I join too?" Ranpo hearing our discussion, he buds his head in between us. "I'm bored, and I ran out of snacks. There is really nothing better to do, so I may as well tag along."

"Then I'll leave you both to her. Come back up or call me if something happens or if anything goes wrong." She walks away back to the infirmary along with the stack of documents. "Oh, and if you can, try to get some info out of her." She adds as she closes the door with her heel giving us a serious look.

We go into the booth, Kaiya has her red headphones on so she doesn't notice us as we approach her. I softly tap her on the shoulder, she whirls her head to us as she lets out a startles jump out of the sofa.

"Oh, sorry." I apologize as I took a step back.

"O-Oh, no, I'm sorry." She takes off her headphones and sets them around her neck as she gives us an uneasy smile. "I'm Kaiya."

"I'm Atsushi and this is Ranpo. We were just about to head for lunch, and we were wondering if you would join us."

"Um, but what about Dazai? And, aren't I suppose to be on house arrest or something?" She said that last part with behind a small laugh.

"Relax~," Ranpo said, flashing her wide smile. "The café we're going to is downstairs. Yosano gave us permission to treat you to lunch and if Dazai does show up, we would be able to spot him right away." She takes a couple of minutes to think about Ranpo's statement, looking to the floor before making her decision. "I guess it would be alright…" she mumbles after a few moments. She looks up at us, giving us a kind smile. "Then I would be happy to join you both."

We took her downstairs to the first floor of the agency's building and into ('**_Uzumaki'_**) the café. As usual, it was as quiet as a church and there were no customers around besides us. We took the table in our usual spot, sitting in a booth on shamrock green leathered chairs and next to a framed window that looked out across onto the street. Ranpo and I sat on one side of the table, while Kaiya sat across from us next to the window.

We were greeted by the waitress, as she flashed us all a wide and cheerful smile. "Welcome back, what can I get you today?"

"Just my usual," Ranpo said giving her a playful smirk. He leans back in the chair putting his arms behind his head as he stretches his feet to the free spot besides Kaiya from across and underneath the table.

"I'll have a cup of black coffee and a bowl of miso soup please," I say as I finished checking through the menu and handing it back to her.

"And for you miss?"

"Um… I'll have a glass of water…" she hesitates, but looks over to me, then adds, "and miso soup, please." She hands back her menu before turning her head to the window, her a little flushed.

"A curry on rice and two miso soups coming right up." She gives us another cheery smile before leaving, ducking into the kitchen from behind the barista station and into the next room.

Immediately the room became quiet again, an awkward silence fell between us and her. _What are we supposed to say? I mean, right now we could ask her about her powers and coerce her to cooperate, but I don't want to make her feel uncomfortable._

However, Ranpo was the first to break the ice. "So Kaiya, I heard that you and your dad were the ones who saved a café that was taken by some gangsters earlier today." He gives her a wide smirk as he asks this. I don't know why, but though I couldn't tell you what was happening in his brain, I started to get the suspicion that he was planning something.

"Yes, we did." She answered, sounding a little embarrassed. "I was glad that we were around when it happened, otherwise those people would have gotten hurt."

"Your right, your right." The waitress sets down two glasses for both Kaiya and Ranpo, filling them up with cold water as he continues. "However, I haft to say, going into a small café, knowing there were two armed men who were taking innocent people as hostages, is a very reckless move."

"Wouldn't you have done the same?" Kaiya said sounding offended by his statement. "Would you just walk by and ignore, knowing that you have powers that...that can help them?" she said this last bit in an anxious mumble as if she realized something in her words. Her eyes look to the floor.

"Of course I wouldn't, but does it really matter now?" Ranpo said picking up his glass and taking a small sip. "The important thing is, that the hostages were saved and the men have been taken into police custody. There is nothing more to discuss."

"Right…" Kaiya grumbles, looking out the window, her face expression turning into a small frown. Somehow the conversation became dead silent again and we were back to how we were before. _'So much for breaking the ice.' _I thought.

Though Ranpo didn't mean to offend her (at least I don't think he did), she was somehow taking his case as an insult. Though I would agree, taking drastic choices like that are reckless, but so is not doing anything when you wouldn't know if someone was about to be shot in the head. However, if it were me in that kind of situation, I would probably do the same as Kaiya. "So, I wanted to ask you earlier," I said aloud, trying to change the conversation topic. "how did know that the café was in danger before anyone else?"

"It wasn't me," she turns away her eyes away from the window as she speaks in a mumble. "Howl heard noises from the inside when we were walking past. He has an ability that possess wolf traits."

I asked confused by who she was referring too. "Howl? You mean your father?"

She nods, her expression softening. "Yeah, he has enhanced hearing. He also has a great sense of smell, amazing tracking skills and he can transform into a giant wolf."

"One of the café staff said they were approached by a giant talking wolf," I told her recalling the statement Noel gave us. "that was your dad?"

"Yep. _'Beast-Soul'_— that's the name of his ability." Her eyes widen, remembering something. "Don't you have an ability similar to that?"

"Yeah," I said giving a pensive smile, as I scratched under my chin. "I can turn into a white tiger, but I'm not able to transform my whole-." I stopped halfway through my sentence. "Wait, how did you know that?"

"I read an article that had a picture of you on the front page…" She reaches inside her backpack and pulls out a notebook full of loose papers that stuck out on all sides. She pulled out one of the papers, giving it to me. I remember this. It was an article that had a picture of me jumping off the Moby Dick. "See? A few months ago, when Howl was looking through the newspaper, he found this. I figured that you would probably have an ability similar to him since you had fur on some patches of your body."

"Why do you call your dad by his first name?" Ranpo spoke up, coming back to the conversation, and changing to a new topic. "I mean, don't you call him dad or something other than that? What gives?" I nudged him on the shoulder as to tell him to not be so direct. But though I didn't want to bring it up myself, I started to wonder the same thing too.

She is silent for a few minutes before she mumbles, "Well you see..." her eyes drifted away to her glass of water for a moment before returning to us. "He's not my... biological father."

"You mean you're adopted?" As if somehow amused with her response, he raised an eyebrow looking a little curious.

"Yeah, I lost my parents in a car accident a couple of years ago," Kaiya explained her voice sounding contrite. "I was adopted by Howl a couple of months after, and I've been with him ever since."

I began to feel a bit of remorse for her, and even a little envious. Even though she lost her parents, unlike me she knew what they looked like and had shared memories of them that she will be able to remember them by. Back at the orphanage I never knew anything about my parents, as the orphanage told me, I assumed they were both dead. Dazai, Kunikda and everyone in the Detective Agency was the only family I've ever known.

"Your curry and soups." The waitress, carrying all three plates with her hands and arm, places them each down in front of us as she gives us a genuine smile. "Please enjoy~," she said to us almost in a singing tune.

"Thank you." Kaiya and I say in unison. We looked to each other and chuckled from the sudden jinx.

We all tucked into our food. Between bite and slips from our drinks, we'd continued our conversation and we all got along well. Once or twice Ranpo and I would try to ask about her ability, but she would only just tell us funny stories about the trip to Yokohama with her dad and dodge the question altogether. She was smart not to give anything away, and I knew that no matter what, she wouldn't tell us about her ability. An hour went by, we finished our lunches and it was just about time for us to head back to the office.

"If you all are done," the waitress came by, collecting our empty plates and drinks. "would you mind paying for your food before you leave?"

"Sure," I say reaching into the back pocket of my pants. "just let me grab my…. My…." I patted it a couple of times, then got out of my seat checking my other pockets than my bag. _'Where is my wallet?'_ I thought as I scavenged through my bag. _'I'm sure I putten in my pocket before I left. Or was it my bag? Darn, where is it?'_

"Don't tell me you forgot your wallet," Ranpo asked sarcastically, sounding as if it wasn't obvious.

"Yeah, I must have forgotten it back at my desk." I admittedly said looking over to him. Hopefully, he would have his wallet on him. "Do you have some money you can lend me?"

"No can do," Ranpo said pulling out his empty pockets from his pants. "You said you were gonna be paying, so I left mine back upstairs." _I never said that!_

"You go grab your wallet upstairs and we'll wait here for you to come back." He adds in an enormous yawn, sounding as if he couldn't care less.

Although I couldn't really depend on Ranpo for money, I didn't want Kaiya to have to stand him until I get back. I look over to her, and she gives me a tired look as she saids, "I'll be fine. Just hurry back when you can alright?"

I nodded as I turn to the waitress, smiling timidly and feeling a little embarrassed. "Do you mind waiting for a couple of minutes while I run upstairs?"

"It's no problem at all." She replied smiling to me in understanding.

"Thanks." I walked out the door, taking my time to get back to the agency. While climbing up the stairs, memories from my days at the orphanage started coming back to me in bits and pieces as if it was some broken movie that hadn't been played in years. Though I despise my life back at the orphanage, going through all that pain and the suffering I endured, in a way, I am thankful for it. Without going through those experiences, I wouldn't have become someone who understands what it's like to suffer. If I didn't, then maybe Kyōka wouldn't have become a member, and Lucy wouldn't have helped me escape the Moby Dick when I was captured. Going through all of that suffering back then, made me the person who I am today.

The office was empty as I entered, I spotted Kenji reading through a report, he waves to me as I make a bee-line for my desk. I spent five minutes searching my desk, and I couldn't find my wallet. I let out a deep sigh, thinking I should probably give up and just put it on my tab. I slowly make my way to the door.

Yosano, who just came out of the infirmary, stops me midway. "Atsushi, how was your lunch date?"

_'__It wasn't a date.'_ It is what I wanted to say, but instead, I came out with this. "It was great, Kaiya is a very nice girl. However, me and Ranpo didn't get any information in regards to her ability."

"I see." She then looks behind my head and to the both, finding it empty. "So where are she and Ranpo now?"

"They're both still downstairs," I saying to her sounding less annoyed by This than I already was. "I forgot my wallet and Ranpo didn't bring his cause he thought I was paying. I couldn't find it though, I was pretty sure I had it in my pocket, when I was gonna pay, it was gone."

"Rotten luck," Yosano muttered, but loud enough for me to catch. "if you like I could lend you some money, and we can call it an 'I owe you'." From a pocket in her skirt, she pulls out a small shiny black leather wallet and opens it up to me while saying, "How much?"

But just as I was about to tell her the amount I needed, the agency suddenly shook, making us lose our balance and crash to the floor, this was followed by a loud explosion noise coming from underneath us.

"What was that?!" I recovered from the shake, I looked to her unsure of what happened. Behind Yosano, nearly all the desks were flipped over, papers were scattered everywhere and the windows were cracked into a single gigantic spider web, looking like they could break any moment. Kenji too recovered from the shake, looking at me, an only surprised expression crossed his face.

"It came from downstairs!" Yosano looked over to me

Me and Yosano, followed by Kenji from behind, burst out of the agency and make a break for the café. We sped through stairs, almost tripping onto our own feet. By the time we got to the first floor and out the front door, the first thing we saw was all the glass from the windows were scattered onto the ground.

We burned into the door of the café, it really did look like an explosion. Like the agency, the place was recked. The room was dark, tea and coffee cups were shattered to bits, tables and leather chairs were torn, remains of lightbulbs were cracked underneath our feet and slouching against the wall in the far end of the room with his head down, was Ranpo.

"Ranpo!" We rushed over to his side, helping him up to his feet and sitting him down on a chair. "What happened? Where's Kaiya?"

He looked up at us, he had his glasses on, and one of the lenses had cracked down the middle. He looked as if he was woken up from a bad dream. "She..." he whispered weakly, struggling to try not to close his eyes. ".. She was... scared..." His eyes close and he loses consciousness.

* * *

May take some time to finish the 3rd chapter since school is back on. May be done before next Friday. (7th or 14th of Feb)

Thank you for reading!


	4. Chapter 3

Hey Guys! Sorry for missing the release date. Things have been crazy. I was so caught up in this chapter, and I didn't have time to properly edit. I'm sorry if this chapter doesn't make sense, I'll probably continue to editing the chapter in the next couple of weeks before I release Chapter 5 sometime on the 20th of March. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 3: (Kaiya's POV)

**_Earlier that day…_**

As me and the giant-white-wolf, Howl led the other customers out of the café and into the open streets, my stomach turned, I started feeling sick. The amount of power I used in that single attack push back and is fighting against my body, I felt my blood to surfacing and I leak out from the corners my mouth. Howl noticed this and immediately pulled me close to him so that no one else saw. "We need to get out of here." He whispered in a serious tone, his expression clouded in a wave of concern.

We ran into a nearby alleyway, making sure no one saw or followed us in. I couldn't hold it in. I dropped to the ground with my hands and knees, I ravenously coughed as a small pool of blood formed from underneath me. Howl transforms back into his human form, kneeling next to me, pulling out a white handkerchief from the pocket of his leather jacket, and covering it over my mouth as I continued to cough. In disgust, I tried to hold it back. Struggling to swallow and prevent more from rising, but with every time I swallowed, I gag out the mouthfuls of blood I try to contain.

"Don't. You'll make yourself more sick." Howl stickily told me as he softly pats my back, refusing to remove the handkerchief from my mouth when I tried to pull back his hand in a weak effort. "You need to take your medicine." He reaches into a pocket in his jacket again, this time he takes out a small medicine container. Giving the handkerchief for me told to hold, he opens the lid, taking out two sapphire blue pills.

Removing the handkerchief and swallowing the last bit of blood in my mouth, I take both of the pills, letting out a sigh of relief as I could instantly feel my stomach starting to settle back to normal. Both the bottom of my white shirt and the cuffs of Howl's black leather jacket were covered in dark bloodstains.

This would always happen. Whenever I used my ability, it would attack back at me from the inside, and I'd end up weak and would cough out blood. I don't know why this happens, but Howl thinks it has something to do with how powerful my ability is and how fragile my body can is since I don't remember ever using it before the accident. I'm lucky enough that he knows how to make medicine that can help restrain my ability.

After I recovered and was able to walk again, we decided to continue on our journey, to the headquarters of the Detective Agency. We were able to avoid the police when they passed by to the café sight, but we had to take a detour to a more crowded route in the city. Howl had to get rid of his jacket, so he chucked it in a nearby dumpster, and I had to wear a black hoodie I packed in my bag to hide the remaining blood stains that we couldn't wash off. To my dismay, it was freaking hot! I felt like a sweatband in this hood! "Are you alright?" Howl asked as he wrapped an arm around my shoulder making me lose my train of thought.

"I'm fine," I said to him assuringly, smiling weakly as I tried sound normal. Although the pills were able to make my stomach better, I still felt this uneasiness as if I'd throw up at any moment. Not to mention it's this heat. "Just having a bit of a sick stomach."

As if unsatisfied with my response, he gives me a none-convinced look. "We should get you something to drink," Howl told me looking up ahead of the people walking upfront of us. "There's a bench over there. Sit on it while I get us something." Without giving me a moment to respond, he walks ahead of me and into a small convenience store. As I sighed, shrugging my shoulders in defeat, I do as he instructed and sat down on the wooden bench on side of the walkway.

He came back a couple of minutes later, holding a plastic bottle of water in one hand, and a steaming hot Taiyaki wrapped in a brown paper bag in the other. He sees me eyeing it and holds it a few inches away from my nose. "You wanna taste?" He asked.

"I lost my appetite." Avoiding the pastry, I reached for the bottle in his other hand, unscrewing the lid and gulping down chunks of water, while trying not to think about the taste of the leftover blood in my mouth. "You shouldn't spend our money like that on sweets." I added when I finished taking a few gulps of water. "We're already low on money after just paying for the one-night stay at that hotel."

I scoffed. "Would you call it a 'hotel', or would you call it as a dump?" He looks me with a sneaky spark in the eyes as I fail to hold back a small giggle. He takes a bite of the steaming Taiyaki, and adds in between chews, "It didn't cost that much anyway, so we'll have plenty of money to buy us lunch later. You don't need to be so worried about it." I rolled my eyes at his cheeky remark. Grabbing the end of the sleeve of my hoodie, wiping away little bits of water that were left on my mouth after passing the bottle back to Howl as I stare off into the crowds of people walking by us.

We stayed a little quiet for a while, until Howl spoke in a serious tone after taking another mouthful bite of his Taiyaki. "The drugs might be losing their effect." Feeling a little concerned about his word, I turned my head to him to ask for more explaining. "Normally you wouldn't be able to use your ability for two hours, but you took your does no more than an hour ago. The limited amount of time from that might be because of the exerted amount of power that has somehow managed to evolve, and that's probably what caused the pressure in your body to become more perilous." He pauses, taking in a small breath before continuing. "So I think it might be safe to give you a little more pills from now on."

"Okay," I said not really listening to what he was saying. While he was talking, I unconsciously start thinking about what happened back at the café. Me and Howl were just walking past, talking, smiling, laughing and enjoying our morning, when I started seeing images flash through my head. Of Hostages. Two men holding guns. The next thing I knew, I'm yelling to everyone around me to leave, and that there were hostages in trouble. I couldn't stop what I was saying. My legs began to move on their own, barging through the door and into the café. And there I saw them. The hostages, the two men with guns, they were just like what I saw. I was rattled and I didn't know how to tell Howl about it, so just kept it quiet. But now…

"Kaiya, how did you know those people were in trouble?" As if he read my thoughts, Howl asks me, taking another bite from his pastry and raising his eyebrow waiting for my response.

When I didn't reply, he gave me a spiteful smirk as he slowly chews up a mouthful. I sighed s I let out a small laugh. "You're gonna think I'm crazy, but…. I had a feeling."

Stopping a few inches away from taking another bite of his Taiyaki, Howl looks at me with a raised eyebrow. "_You… had a feeling_?" He asked sounded curious, but still unsure of what I said.

"I know it sounds crazy, but… I don't know. It felt like— I _knew_." He gave me a puzzled, but confused look. _'Maybe I should explain it in more detail.' _I thought, sighing aloud before trying again. "Something felt off. I had a shiver down my spine, my blood began to freeze up and I saw pictures in my head. I can't explain why or how, but it was like… it was _a feeling_."

Howl slowly takes another bite off the pastry, his eyes glued to me with keen interest. He wraps up the remaining half of the Taiyaki with the paper bag, zipping it into the front pouch of my backpack. "Ok, so you had _a feeling_." He said this, sounding like he didn't really believe me, but played along with the story anyway. "Then how were you able to control your ability?"

"That's another crazy thing," I told him in an astonished laugh before launching into telling him about it. " 'You know that every time I use my ability, the flames would usually turn into a dark amber color and I wouldn't able to control it and I'd end up setting things on fire."

"I know that all too well." Howl joked as he gives me a mischievous smirk. _That was a rhetorical question. Dummy._

"**_Anyway_**_,_" I say this aloud as I continued ignoring his comment, but smiling back speaking through a small bit of laughter in my voice. "back at the café, it changed into a glowing white color, it looked like— it's as if it was—"

"Pure and holy…" Howl mumbles, looking to the ground with his hand under his chin, frowning as if trying to make sense of a complicated puzzle.

I give a little chuckle, thinking that what he said was kinda weird. "That's one way to say it… But isn't it amazing? This is the first time I was able to control my ability, without hurting anyone, and without burning anything down."

"Mhmm." He doesn't look up at me to agree, his head remained low and his feet began to tap impatiently. I heard him murmur under his breath, but I couldn't seem to make out what he was saying. It kinda scared me a little.

"Howl…" I cautiously shook his shoulder, trying to get his attention. "You good?"

"Hmm? What— ?" His eyes widen as he realized I was talking to him. "Sorry Kaiya, but I think we should get going. We've been resting too long and the office should be somewhere around the next couple of blocks up." Again, before I could have a chance to respond, he gets up from the bench and started walking off leaving me feeling dumbfounded for a minute before I sped off after him.

While we walked and talked, we kept our conversation short. We didn't talk anymore about the café, about my powers or Howl's mumbling. We quietly discussed what we were gonna say when meeting Dazai and the rest of the agency members. During our long trip to Yokohama, Howl thought I'd be a good idea to make up a cover for ourselves so that they wouldn't know I was responsible for burning down the orphanage, or that I was a runaway foster kid with dangerous abilities that could go wild at any moment. (which to me, I accepted the plan without any disagreement.) Howl's cover is my adopted guardian who works at a small clinic in an old residential district in Tokyo. I am his adopted daughter who is homeschooled by Howl after her parents had been killed in a car accident and studying to be a doctor. It was simple since most of that is true.

We arrived at the agency's building entrance, standing side by side with each other. This was it, we were finally here. I felt my heart hitting the walls inside my rib cage and my head starts to sweat. Howl decided to take the stairs, that spiraled up from the wall to the next three floors, with me following a little ways behind him. With every step I took, I felt my chest beating faster, my head becoming heavy, and my legs began moving slower with every step I made. Stopping midway in front of the second floor's flight of stairs, my head looks down to the wooden floor as I felt the cold sweat drip down the side of my face. '_I don't think I could do this. This was a mistake, I need to leave.' _

"Are you nervous?" I look up, Howl looks at me from over his shoulder and comes down the stairs to meet me.

"I-I don't know," I say hearing my own words my words begin to break, as I feel my hands and lower lip trembling. "What if my ability starts acting up? You said the medicine could be losing its effectiveness, and what if they want me to use my ability? I don't have any control over it and could burn down the building, I'd hurt a lot f really nice people. And what if Dazai won't help me? What if my ability kills him?!-"

I suddenly felt a massive sting of pain from the center of my head. I look up, seeing Howl looming over me as his hand is formed in a karate chop possession. "Um—_Ow_!" I say as I give him a surprised but irritated sneer as I roughly remove his hand and arm. "What the hell did you do that for?!"

"You're rambling," Howl said, his face shifting into an annoyed, but tired frown, looking as if he was taking care of a whining puppy. "I only asked you a simple question." I look back down to the floor as I hear him let out a loud sigh.

He places a hand on my shoulder as if to reassure me. "You got nothing to be nervous about. We didn't come to Yokohama so that you chicken out at the last minute... I promise you, everything will turn out alright. You won't lose control, you won't need to show them your ability and you definitely won't hurt Dazai. If he can make abilities disappear, what's not to say he can't be inflicted by them, right?" Using his other hand he reaches into the back pocket of his jeans, pulling out the pill container and handing it to me. "If it would help, take an extra dose before we head up." I do as he said. Unscrewing the cap, I take out two of the pills, tossing them in my mouth, and swallowed them down. "Better?" He asks me, leaning his head down looking at me with a gentle gaze and a warm smile.

I looked up at him with a sentimental look but nodded, screwing the lid back on, and putting it in the back pouch of my bag. He wraps an arm around my shoulders as we were walking up the flight of stairs. Minutes later, we reach the fourth-floor hallway. Across from us, a red frame surrounded a brown wooden door, and the blurred glass window on the top half had a bronze nameplate in the very center. '_Armed Detective Agency'_ was written across the plate in black words.

As we both casually approach the door, I started thinking that maybe Howl was right. There was nothing for me to be nervous about, nothing bad was gonna happen, and if it did, he will be there to protect me like he always did. Protect me from both others and myself. Howl's hand stops midway from touching the knob. As if it came from all around me, Howl's voice echoed through my head, like what I heard was meant to be more of a whisper. _'…I'm sorry Kaiya.'_

"Did you say something?" I asked him, feeling a little rattled, thinking that I may have been imagining things and my mind was playing tricks. He turns his head, giving me a nervous smile that looked forced. "I didn't say anything." He laches onto the knob and opens the door, moving aside for me to enter first. "After you." He face returned to his calm and cool-tempered self.

I wanted to tell with him about what I heard, but as I looked into the quiet office space, seeing the eyes of strangers staring directly at me, made my whole body paralyzed. I deeply inhale through my nose, and slowly exhaled through my mouth, clenching onto the bottom of my sleeve as I stepped inside.

The only thought that raced through my mind at that point, were only three words…

_'__Don't lose control.'_

* * *

**_And now…_**

I ran faster. Panting and silently whimpering, feeling the strain in my lungs and legs as I tightened my grasp to the strap of my bag. I could feel it, my ability surfacing. It felt like I was on fire, as if I were about to explode. I didn't know how it happened,but the last thing I remember was feeling my ability beginning to grow out of control. I remember trying to leave when Ranpo wouldn't let me, then everything after that is all a blur. The next thing knew the café was wrecked, Ranpo was lying on the floor looking as limp as a rag doll. I didn't know what to do, so without thinking, I panicked and ran away.

'_I never meant for it to happen.' _I thought to myself, trying to remove the image from my memory as I continued running. Though I couldn't say for certain that it was my fault, I wasn't too confident in thinking that it wasn't either.

I was able to run a couple of blocks away from the agency through an alleyway and into a marketing district, but to me unfortunate luck, the place was crowded with people. This was not the kind of place I should be at, especially with my ability acting up. I stride into the sea of people, keeping my hands tucked away in the pocket of my hoodie as I tried not to bump into anyone. Sweat ran down my forehead, feeling the pressure in my body heating more as I try to avoid a collision. I just need to get through, to get as far away as possible from all these people before I hurt anybody. Again.

_'__What should I buy for dinner?' _

_'__Huh?'_ I stopped my tracks. '_Did I just—?'_ It was like what happened with Howl before back at the agency. The voice echoed, pushing through my head as if I were made of air. I looked around the crowd, I could no longer hear the voice, the people around me. No one spoke to me, nor could I hear what anyone was saying. '_Was it my imagination?' _I turn my head to leave.

_'__Dam, I'm gonna be late for work!' _

I heard another voice, this time it was the voice of a man. I whirled my head around behind me, in the direction where I think it came from. '_What's going on?' _

_'__I could save 8000 yen if I buy them both for the same price.'_

_'__Did I check to lock the door?'_

I began to hear more voices, I couldn't find out where they came from or who they belonged to, I can never tell who was speaking. '_Am I reading their minds?'_

_'__Is the library is open around this time?'_

_'__I wanna go home Mommy!'_

_'__I wonder if Yuki will be coming over tonight.'_

The voices kept multiplying, making it sound as if they were coming from all directions. Whirling my head from one side to another, I start to slowly back away. '_I can't be reading their minds.'_ Trying to ignore the voices, I kept on moving through the crowd. '_How? Why? This is impossible.' _

_'__Sweet or savory?'_

_'__I want ice-cream!'_

_'__I'm starving! What kind of lunch is there to eat?'_

_'__I really hope she'll say "yes".'_

I started to run, pushing past other people while my hands were still closed in my pocket. The more I wished the voices would go away, they would keep coming, growing louder until it would feel like my ears were ringing._ 'Why is this happening?'_ I took my hands out from my pockets covering my ears, though it was useless. I ran faster, closing close to the intersection where the crowd lessened as I tightly closed my eyes and pushing my hands harder against my ears. '_Make it stop... Make it stop! Please make it stop now!'_

Then, like a movie playing in the back of my mind and closed eyes, I could see flashing images.**_ I see myself running onto the road, my hands still covering ears and eyes closed tight. A red traffic light turning green. I hear the sound of a horn. I get hit by a blue truck and I'm lying on the road, gasping for air and bleeding thick red blood._**

Through my ears, I heard the muffled sound of a loud horn and I blink open my eyes. I was a step away from over the sidewalk, but as I fell backward onto the hard ground from the impact, a blue truck drives past me, being only inches away from touching the ends of my shoes. Looking up to the sky, I breathed I took in deep hard gasps as if I had just escaped death's door. _'I'm… okay?'_ I thought, trying to collect myself and process what just happened.

"Are you alright kid?" A man in a grey suit crouches down, he helps me to sit up straight as a small group of people started to form around me. "Are you hurt anywhere?… Hey kid, say something…" The man's voice fading away as I try to think. '_What happened? Didn't I just-… Wasn't I-?' _With a trembling hand, I lightly poked and touch around my chest. I was still solid, I wasn't a ghost, still flesh and bones. "I'm… I'm not dead…" I mumbled. '_Was that all just a dream?'_

"I think she needs a doctor." A woman's voice catches my attention. I see her crouch down next to me as she holds a cellphone in her hand. "I'll call an ambulance." I grab the phone in her hand just as she was about to dial the number. "No!" Everyone around me stares in confusion as to why I wouldn't accept her help. I needed to leave quickly, before my ability starts to act up, or before anyone tries to stop me. "I-I'm fine." I apologize to the woman as I quickly release her hand. "I'm sorry, but I haft to go." I push through the people surrounding me as I made my escape out.

"W-Wait a minute!" I hear the woman call out to me, but I was already sprinting pass the crossing road (with pedestrian green-light on), turning into a street corner and making a dash through another alleyway. I end up running to an empty riverside area full of benches and plant life. There were no people in sight, perfect. I sat on one of the empty benches. _'That was close.' _I thought as I took a couple of small breaths. _'If I stayed any longer I might have lost my ho— *gasp* —The pills!'_

Frantically searching through, pushing pass my phone, leftover Taiyaki, plastic drink bottle and my father's diary, which was a small black leather book, I was able to find the small container at the very bottom of my bag. In a panic, I quickly unscrewed the lid, took out two pills, and throwing them both in my mouth, swallowing them hard in a loud gulp. But as I did though, I realized that haven't felt my ability acting up since the strange deja vu with me almost getting killed. No overwhelming heat, no blood rapidly racing throughout my body, nothing. I looked at my hands, I couldn't feel anything from them. _'Did my ability lose its juice or something? Why don't I feel anything?'_

I hear a vibrating noise coming from my bag. It was my flip-phone. As I put away my pill container in the pocket of my hoodie, I open the phone and checked the screen. It read; "Calling…_Howl._" Relief and joy wash over me, thinking that he couldn't have picked a better time to call. My finger stopped inches away from the call button before I could answer. I started to wonder; if he's able to call me now, is it because the agency told him to? _'Should I pick up?' _I moved my finger away. 'If the agency asked him to call me, does that mean they are calling about-' Having too much time thinking about my choices, the phone stopped vibrating and turned itself to the voice message. "I hesitated," I said aloud with a sigh. Putting the phone to my ear, I expected to hear Howl's voice, but I was speechless and surprised to hear the voice of someone else.

"Hello? This is Kunikida, from the Armed Detective Agency." _The guy with the glasses from earlier? Why does he have Howl's phone?_ "If you're listening, we ask you to come back to the agency in regard to what happened to Ranpo." I freeze at his assertion but lean in closer to the phone as he continues. "Right now, he's in the agency's infirmary room, so he can't testify what happened. However, until you state that what happened was indeed an accident, we will provoke your request to see Dazai, you will be a threat to the safety of civilians,and your father will be detained and kept in our custody until further notice." _Howl…_ "We've already sent some of our members to go out to look for you, but for your own safety, you need to come back. When you get this message, please call—…*beeep!*…."

The voice message ends. I clench the phone, lowering it down to my lap, as tears began to rise from my eyes. _'"Go back"?…' I thought to myself as I tried stopping the desperate tears that wanted to surface. 'How can I go back? How can I give myself a statement for something I can't remember? I don't know if I am innocent, and I don't know if I am guilty. Maybe... maybe I just won't admit the truth to myself because I'm afraid. Afraid that I would be a danger to people because of my ability, just like at the café when I ran away. If I wasn't alone with Ranpo, maybe he wouldn't have gotten hurt by me. If I never came to Yokohama, then I wouldn't be a threat to them and Howl wouldn't be in trouble because of me. If I was never born with this abnormal ability…. Maybe I would have lived a normal life. Gone to school, made friends and… and had... a real f-family again…'_ I unconsciously began to silently sob as I tried gasping for breaths in between. 'H-Howl... You told m-me that nothing bad would go wrong...s-sorry...I-I'm sorry..."

"You alright kid?" I slowly looked up, a tall slender man with long curly orange hair a black hat and trench coat, was standing in front of me with an annoyed expression across his face.

"Y-Yeah," I replied as I tried to wipe my tears with my hoodie sleeve. "I'm fine…"

"You're crying." He stated, cocking his head to the side as if to say it was obvious. "That screams that you're not fine." I subconsciously giggle at his remark. "What's bugging you kid?" He asked as he sits himself down beside me. As he does, I slowly shoved myself a little away from him to make a little space in between us. "I did something terrible," I told him looking down at my shoes. "But I don't want to talk about it."

"Are you here alone?" He asks me. "Yeah," I answered truthfully. "I was with a friend, but… we separated a little while ago." As I explained I clench my phone more tightly, remembered what Kunikida said in the message.

_'__Perfect, then capturing this brat should be easy.' _

My eyes widen and my body tensed up as I realized at what I just heard. _'What? I thought I took the drugs— are they not working? Wait— that doesn't matter right now. He said "capture", does that mean—? Is he gonna try to kidnap me?'_ I looked to him from the corner of my eyes, trying not to make eye contact. _'If so, I need to get away from this guy and back to the agency. Fast.'_

"What?" he asked noticing my new found look on him. I didn't know what kind of look I was giving him.

"Uh, i-it's nothing," I said giving him a nervous smile as I try to conceal the fear in my voice. "I just— I didn't catch your name."

"It's Chūya," he answers bluntly, his eyes narrowing.

"Well Chūya, it was really nice chatting with you," With my free hand, I grabbed the strap of my bag, clenching it tightly as I put my phone away in my pocket. "but I just remembered that I was supposed to see someone today, and I really don't want to keep them waiting. So maybe I'll see you around? Okay, bye!" I broke into a run, but I felt my hand being grasped and pulled from behind stopping me from leaving. My heart was beating wildly and I felt my mind going into a panic, wanting and praying that I don't get hurt.

"Sorry, but I was assigned to bring you in to meet my boss." I heard him say, his tone becoming dark and serious. I slowly turn my head behind to see him, his expression was cold and stern, and I grew weak under his glare. "Escaping is not an option, so you're coming with me." His grip on my hand becomes tighter. I couldn't move, it felt like my feet sank into the earth like tree roots that were preventing me from escaping.

Suddenly in that very moment, a familiar feeling rushes through my body. _My ability._ I felt my hand growing warmer and my fingers beginning to tingle with a funny sensation. Ripping the sleeve of my hoodie, white fire engulfs my wrist, hand, and fingers like a torch, glowing bright like a firework and instantly spreading on the grip of Chūya's gloved hand. "Ahh!" He lets go of my wrist, releasing me as he staggers back gripping his smoking gloved hand. The gloves cloth was burned from his fingers, palm, and knuckle, replacing the patches of bare skin with second-degree burns. He gives me an arrogant look as I hear him cursing under his breath as his expression twists up in the strain of the pain.

The flame in my hand goes out. Seeing my chance to escape, I snapped out of my panic state and broke out into a dash without looking back to see if he was following. I ran as if my life depended on it. I ran through the streets, unmindful of people staring at me and not knowing how far I've gone. My legs ached with strain, I wanted to desperately stop, but my mind was screaming, telling me to keep going in fear that he was behind me.

I turned a tight corner into a dark alleyway, thinking that I finally lost him. I leaned against the wall of the alley, drenched in cold sweat, and panting hard and feeling breathless. _'What the hell was that?'_ I weakly look down at the hands, I didn't even know I could do that. I shake my head._ 'No— don't think about that right now. You need to find help… The Agency!' _I pulled my phone out from my pocket and dialed Howl's number hoping anyone would pick up. The call picks up and I hear the receiver on the other end speak into the phone. "Hello? Kaiya?" It was Atsushi's voice.

"A-Atsushi!" my voice stuttered and I felt like I was about to break out crying again. "I need your help, I-I'm being chased by—" Only just missing the tip my fingers, my phone was suddenly struck by an unknown blackness, that made a hole through the middle of the screen, and sending it flying out of my hand as I fall to my side on the hard ground. The black entity instantly retracts itself into the shadows of the alleys dead end.

Hiding from within the darkness, I see the silhouette of a man, walking out and stepping into the sunlight. He wore a long black cloak, a white cravat around his neck and had short black hair that reached his chin, with bangs that were white at the tips. Though his face was expressionless, the glare from his empty grey eyes made me feel helpless. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that." He said coldly, walking towards me as the end of his cloak emerge, transforming itself into the face of a shadowy beast. "If anyone were to interfere with your capture, it would become difficult to obtain you."

More than anything, all I wanted right then and there was to use my ability to defend myself, but when I wish that, I think back to how badly I burned Chūya. Though I wanted to escape, I didn't want to hurt anyone else in the progress. (plus, I doubt I would be able to win a fight against this guy since I couldn't control my ability.) So gathering up all the courage to move, I scrambled to my feet and made a run for it. But as I took those first steps, my right wrist was wrapped up by a fabric in the shape of a black claw, holding me back and preventing me from escaping. It was a tug-of-war, it tried to pull me towards him as I tried pulling myself away. It was going strong and steady, and I was able to take a few steps away from him, but from behind the man, another black bind appears, grabbing onto my other wrist, making the struggle harder for me. Soon, my legs were growing tired, and my feet were dragging along the pavement and successfully pulling me closer towards him. I tried stopping myself by hitting the ground with my feet, trying to see if I could stop and find my footing again, but as I got closer to him, I became afraid. And aware that I didn't stand a chance, and I wasn't going to win against him and his ability.

"No!" I screamed as I try staggering myself away from him just as I just stepped in front of him. "Let me go—!" He delivers a powerful punch to my diaphragm, raising me a few inches from the ground. I could feel my lungs seize, the back of my throat felt as rough as gravel as struggles to let out a cry of pain. I felt my body beginning to grow heavy, and I didn't have the strength to stand. I tried pulling myself up in spite of the pain, but in great efforts, my legs gave up on themselves, leaving them limp and my arms being held above my head. "Struggling is pointless." I heard him say, as the binds lift me higher to his level, looking into his colorless eyes. "Don't make this any more painful for yourself."

My vision begins to go blurry, and my eyes desperately struggled to stay open. I tried to fight the urge of passing out, but with the pain in my stomach expanding to my ribs and chest, all my body wanted to do rest, endure the pain and close my eyes. With one last look at the blurry silhouette of my abductor, I closed my eyes and blacked out.

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Thanks for reading! Hope that it wasn't too bad... Please comment, and wait for my new chapter coming in late March! Later!


	5. Chapter 4

Hey, Readers! I've finished the whole of Chapter 4, so I will be taking down the one from a few days ago that has only shown you half. I may have changed a few things, but apart from that, it's complete. I hope you enjoy!

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Chapter 4:

One minute, it felt as if I was sinking into a deep sleep, and the next thing I knew, my eyes were open and I'm surrounded, engulfed by an eerie white mist. It just happened, I didn't know how I ended up here. I look to turn my head to look around, the mist was everywhere. I looked up to the sky, enormous grey clouds began to form into a bundle and darken together, almost looking like it was just about to rain. For some reason, I decided that it would be a good idea to walk around and see if I could find someone, or find a sign as to where I was. Walking through the mist, my body grew cold and I felt my arms and legs forming small goosebumps. Though I shouldn't have anything to be afraid of, I had a feeling that someone or something was going to jump out of the mist. Silly I know, but when you are alone, scared, unsure of who or what you will find, you can tend to feel yourself growing small.

I walked for what seemed like hours, and despite the mist, I couldn't see anything in my eyes line of sight, only a vase empty land that stretched out for miles and into nowhere. There was nothing, nothing but the mist. I almost felt stupid, thinking that I could find something through this land of nothingness. I felt a sudden gust of wind pushing me behind, making me stumble a few feet forward, and the mist started to lift a little.

Then, though I had a small visual of what it was, I saw a silhouette of something through the mist only a little aways from me. As I walk towards it, my eyes adjusted better through the mist and I came to see it wasn't something, but _someone._ As I walked slowly closer to them, I could see that they were wearing a long white robe, that hanged off from their shoulders to the floor with a hood that covered their head. I also noticed that around both her wrists were rusty iron shackles. That should have been my first red flag telling me that this strange person was suspicious, but for some reason, I was still drawn to them despite that, like I wasn't afraid at all. Their back was turned to me, so I couldn't see their face, but as I stopped a few feet from them, I slowly began to notice that they were as tall as I was. "Hello?" My voice surprised me as I heard it coming out like an echo. The hooded figure, without turning their head ignored me. "Excuse me, could you tell me where I am?"

"….coming…." Their voice was as quiet as the wind and I barely heard what they said, but I was only able to make out that one word. They spoke it in a strange wavering voice, so it was hard for me to tell either if it was a he or a she. I cleared my throat and asked again. "Can you tell me where I am?"

"The Devil… will rise again." This time in a much loud and clearer voice, it occurred to me that I was talking to a girl, it startled me that their voice almost sounded familiar to me. _The Devil?_ "What are you talking about?" I asked, attempting to walk around to see beneath her hood. But as I was just a few inches from seeing her face, the mist started to abruptly rise, covering us both in its thick blanket. I stagger back a couple of feet, covering my eyes with a hand as the mist clouds my vision, making it harder for me to see. As it slowly cleared again, I saw that she was no longer next to me. Frantically turning to find her, I couldn't see where she was till I finally saw her standing twelve feet away, turning to face me as the mist parts between her and me.

Under her hood I couldn't see her face, a dark shadow covered her eyes and mouth, making me think for a second that she didn't have a face at all. Though we were far from each other's earshot, I heard the words that she spoke as if she was standing in front of me. "When the moon turns to blood, her powers will resurface and she will attempt to poison your body, mind, and very being…" She removed her hood I felt the air in my lunge seize, I didn't how, but staring back at me… _was me_. She had the same dark brunette hair, the same hazel eyes, the same face. It was like looking into a mirror. "You must break the chains that weigh you down, or you'll never hope to win." She slowly turns her back to me, throwing her hood over her head and walking away, leaving me stunned and conflicted. _That was… Me! Or at least, she looks like me. How? WHY?! That's impossible! _

"Stop—" Just as I was about to take a step and follow after her, I suddenly felt my left foot sink into something cold and wet. My head shoots to the floor, and my foot was sticking into a small pool of black ink that appeared out of nowhere! _Where did that come from?!_ I tried pulling out, but it wouldn't budge. As I struggle to break free, I didn't notice the pool was quickly spreading itself towards my right shoe and climbing up my ankle as I start to feet both my feet quickly, but slowly get pulled under. In a panic, I desperately tried to jump out as the sinking become faster and I struggle to break free from it's held on me. "Help—!" Suddenly, shooting out from beneath the pool, leaking black chains grab hold my wrists, pulling my arms downwards and I start sinking faster. _What the hell is going on?!_ I tried pulling my arms up, so to break the chains while I cry out to the other me, "Help! I can't get out! Help please!" But I couldn't see her, not even through the mist as I got no response and I continue sinking. _Am I gonna die?! I don't want to die! I need to get out! I need to break free!_ I had these thoughts to motivate me to keep trying, but deep inside, I knew that all my efforts would be pointless at this stage. The inks begin to sink up to my waist at incredible speed, it felt like the ink had a somewhat kind of mind of its own. I soon reach the sinking into the floor, the ink travels up my neck and covers my mouth, stopping me from crying, and leaving me to gasp for air through my nose. I feel tears beginning to seep from the corners of my eyes, and my vision is engulfed as I fully sink into the black pool of ink.

I look up to the light of the surface of the pool as it fades and I sink deeper, feeling the strength in my arms and legs fail. It felt like I was drowning, I desperately wished for air as I was beginning to lose conciseness. I could feel my eyes struggling to say open. _'I'm so tired… I need to stay awake…'_ My eyes slowly close and I could feel myself sinking deeper and deeper… Suddenly my eyes blink open, my vision slowly adjusts to a blinding red light and I'm now looking up at an unfamiliar ceiling. I could feel cold sweat dripping down the side of my face as I breathlessly panted, and trying to control the abrupt beating of my heart. _'Was it all… a dream?' _I thought as I try to take slow deep breaths as I began remembering small fragments of my dream._' It was…strange it felt… real. I remember the feeling of the cold mist, the steps I took, the feeling of drowning…'_ The thought of the blackness of the pool made me quiver, but glad that it was not real.

Turning my head to the side, I was lying on a black velvet sofa in an empty room that was dimly lit by a single red spotlight above me and the rest of the room was cast out in the shadows surrounding me. There were hardly any windows, except for one that was just under the roof. 'Where—' As I try sitting up to get a better look at my surroundings, I felt a sudden sharp feeling of pain beginning to spread through my torso. I let out a small wince of pain as I took hold of my chest.

'Why does my chest—?' My mind suddenly recalls and flashes back to the events of what happened. 'I… was taken, by that guy in the black cloak. Where am I? I need to get out of here before he comes back.' I look around the room. Through the shadowy darkness outside the spotlight, I spot a door at my right-hand side. I ran to it and frantically tried turning the knob. It was locked shut. I then hear the faint sound of beeping coming from somewhere. I turned around to see if it was somewhere behind me, but then, not realizing before, I suddenly felt something heavy and tight bounded around my neck.

As I tried looking downward, and I could see a glimpse of a thick black metal collar around my neck. 'What the heck is this?' I clench my fingers around the collar and start pulling hard. I grunted as I felt my knuckles go white and my fingers ache from strain. My neck also started to tire from the effort and pressure I put against my neck, I felt at any second I would break the back of my neck.

"I wouldn't toy with it if I were you." From behind me, spoke a familiar voice. I let go of the collar as I spun around in alarm. Hiding in the shadows from behind one of the pillars, I see pale blue eyes from the silhouette of a man. "The collar is invented with a shock function that can deliver a powerful and painful electric current if when attempted to be removed or activated." He walks towards the couch, and he sits himself down on the arm that was facing me putting his hands in the pockets of his trousers. At once I instantly recognized him and that curly orange hair.

"Y-Your…." My throat felt as dry and my voice sounded like a clogged pipe. I lightly coughed, rubbing my throat underneath the collar as I cleared my voice and tried again. "Y-Your the guy from earlier."

"Glad that you remembered me." He said bluntly, sounding annoyed. His expression looked intimidating and neutral, but almost in a way that looked like I was an eyesore to him. I didn't care about the tone though, I was more scared about the current situation I was in. "Where am I?" I asked him not trying to conceal the shakiness in my voice. "You're inside The Port Mafia Headquarters." He answers truthfully.

'_The Port Mafia?! I've only heard the rumors about them back home. They say that the mafia is known as a legal organization full of killers, murders, and ability users that rule the streets of Yokohama under fear and terrine, and I also recall that they're sworn rivals and enemies of the Armed Detective Agency.' _I then felt the pain in my head slowly returning, as well as the pain in my diaphragm. I moaned caressing my stomach, cursing to myself and remembering about '_the guy in black'_. "How long was I out?" I asked. "You were out around a couple of hours." Chūya answers. 'A couple of hours… the pills!' Looking past him, I eye the sofa to see if my bag was around its legs, but to my fear of it, I couldn't see it anywhere. 'Where is-'

"Looking for this?" From underneath Chūya's coat, with his injured hand that was wrapped in bandages, he pulls out my backpack tosses it to the ground and dragging to a stop stops before me. I crouch down to it and started scavenging inside to search of my pills. Everything was still there, my dad's diary, the leftover Taiyaki (that had now turned cold), and my drink bottle, but I couldn't find the container. However to my surprise, right next to my bottle on the of my bag, I saw my flip phone, though it was not looking in the best shape. The case and coating had a few scratches, but apart from that, I think it'd be able to work well. But why was it in here? '_Did they forgot to search my bag?'_ I thought suspiciously. While lower my head, not minding Chūya's intense and suspicious glare, I quickly pulled it out and flipped it open, shocked to find that a spiderweb crack was punched in the middle of the black screen. "Calling would be pointless, even if it was fixed." I look up to Chūya, who crosses his arms to me as he continues. "Phone signals that are inside the building are immediately disabled unless they're connected to the mafia's computer database network."

_'It must have gotten damaged when that guy knocked it out of my hand when I tried calling the Agency.'_ I thought as I disappointedly place my phone back into the bag beside my bottle. _'I wonder if they are already trying to look for me since I didn't come back. Would they still be keeping Howl locked up?'_ I brush the thought away, trying to focus on my meds. I checked the rest of the bag for the pill container, and to my worry, they weren't there. Didn't I put it— *gasp* my pockets! I patted myself down onto the pockets of my hoodie to my jeans, but I couldn't feel it on me. '_I must have dropped it while I was running!…' _Then a thought entered my panicked mind. '_Then again, is it really bad if I don't take them?'_ My body wasn't acting out of the sorts, no uncontrollable urges, no impulses and I wasn't feeling like I'd explode.

"Looking for these?" I look up from my bag to him, and from inside his coat, he pulls out my pill container! I am relieved to see it, but from in his hand, I noticed that there were fewer pills than when I last took my dose. As if reading my thoughts, he explained. "When you passed out, it fell out of your pocket and they scattered across the ground while Akutagawa was carrying you. There aren't many left unfortunately." From where I could see through it, there were at least 10 pills left surrounding the bottom of the container. That means, if I ever had to take them again, I'd haft to be mindful of how many times I need to take a dose.

"Are you sick or something kid?" Chūya lightly throws the container to me asking as I catch it. I quickly take out only one pill and swallow it whole, not minding the hard feeling in my throat when I swallowed. "Kinda." I simply answered, putting the container away in my hoodie's pocket after making sure the lid was tightly closed. I didn't know how it got there, but we then stood in a long uncomfortable silence. I decided to slowly walk pass Chūya and sit across from him at the edge of the couch while staring at the floor and trying to not look him in the eye. Chūya wouldn't talk, and we'd both continue to stay silent. At one point I looked up at him, he had his arms crossed against as he was typing on a black flip-phone and was sitting against the arm of the chair. My eyes traveled a little down to his bandaged hand that was holding the phone. The events of burnings Chūya's hand playing repeated in my mind and replayed on a loop. The memory of it made me feel guilty for hurting him. I know that's stupid to think, even from me, but I couldn't take the thought out of my head since I didn't mean to purposely burn his hand. I began to feel like I should maybe apologize, but what could I say? More importantly, how would he respond? At one point when I was thinking, I didn't notice that Chūya takes his eyes away from the phone, and he catches me staring at him. "What?" He snaps as his eyes narrow at me and my mind jumps back to the present. I tried coming up with something to say, so then I asked, "You mentioned the name 'Akutagawa'. Is he the guy who knocked me unconscious?— He has black clothing and white tips at the end of his hair."

"Yeah, that's him." He answered not bothering to take his eyes away from the phone. "Take my advice, he's not very kind to kids, so don't think of it anything personal earlier."_ Too late for that. _Chūya puts away his phone in his pocket, as he slowly walks to the door and knocks on it three times. I hear a click and the immediately opens ajar. Outside, I could make out a silhouette in the crack of the door as a small ray of white light entered the room. "Tell the boss she's awake and we'll be coming up shortly." I hear Chūya say. I hear footsteps fade away, and the door fully opens as more light shines into the room, almost blinding me. A small group of men, around four or six, dressed in sharp black suits and dark glasses were stiffly, but sharply waiting in the hallway. Chūya then turns to me with a stern expression. "We're leaving." He said. I get up from the couch, but I cautiously take a few steps backward as I clench the strap of my bag. "Where are we going," I asked him. "You're going to meet our boss." He explains, his expression was intimidatingly scary. "The purpose of why you're here is cause he wants to talk with you."

"Why does he want to talk to me?" I asked a little conflicted. His eyes roll to the right as he lets out an annoyed sigh. "Look, kid, I'm not asking." His body began to glow, surrounding him in a red aura, and my body suddenly felt weightless as if I was light as air. I noticed that a few thick strands of my hair were slightly hovering over my cheeks, and my arms were slightly elevated, it felt like I was floating through water. I had the urge to look to the floor, and as id did I was stunned to see that I was levitating above the ground, almost three feet in the air. I lift my head at Chūya who gave me a menacing smirk, and I suddenly felt my body being pulled towards him as my head was shot back from the unexpected force. While not giving me time to react, I was sped past him, whilst I stopped in the middle of the hallway surrounded by the men in black. Without warning, I dropped onto the cold marble floor with a thud as felt my body return to back normal. _Did he…? Was that an ability? Was that his ability? _As I slowly recover and pulling myself off the floor, one of the men closed the door as the others block the hallway from behind me, cutting me from a way to escape.

Chūya then pulls out a small thin remote shape device from the pocket of his trousers. It was just at least the size of his palm with only one button in the middle. He waves it in his hands as he speaks. "See this? This is a remote that can instantly activate the collar if I please. I want you to know, that if you disobey me or step out of line, you'll get what is coming to ya. Got it?" I quickly nodded in response. "Then let's move." He puts away the remote back in his pocket and walks away in the opposite direction from where I was facing. As he leaves, two of the suited men each roughly grab hold of my shoulder and forcefully walking me off silently follow Chūya. We walked through the empty black pearl hallways for a while, turning onto every corner that leads to a similar hallway felt elaborate. The suited men in black were walking from both beside me and behind as I continued holding onto my bag and Chūya was taking the lead in front, leaving a small gap open in between. As we continued walking, I tried thinking of what would Howl say in a situation like this. 'Everything is going to be okay' would be my first suggestion. Or something reassuring like, _'Try to stay calm. Don't think too much about it.'_ It didn't care what he would say, it would always make me feel brave even though I was scared deep down. All I wanted at this point, was for him to be beside me, saying that I would be alright and that I need to stay calm.

We soon stopped as we reach an elevator door. Chūya pushes onto the button to go up, and instantly the doors open. Inside, the walls were made from thin glass, and only two wooden rails were bolted into the two sides across each other. Chūya walks inside, his back turned to the men and me as I quietly follow behind. Before any of the other men could follow, Chūya turns to them speaking in a low voice as he walks up to the gap of the elevator. "I'll take care of it from here."Without hesitation and no response, the men obediently walked away just as the doors close, leaving me and Chūya alone closed inside the elevator as it travels up.

The elevator turns dark and I realized it had no light source, but as we continued upward moments after, the glass elevator brightens with a strong and dull light from behind me. I quickly turned around and saw that the light was coming out from a gap at the back of the elevator that opened to the outside of the building.

I walked up to the window, placing my hand onto the cool glass as I gaze out. The sun was a roaring fire color as it was settling down over the port and into the harbor and open seas. The view was amazing, I felt drawn to the suns light, and for a moment I almost had forgotten where I was. But that moment stopped when an unwanted thought entered my mind. "Howl," I whispered to myself. _The Agency. Dazai. Kunikida and Atsushi. How am I suppose to testify for myself when I can't even get back to the Agency and save Howl? Not to mention, how am I supposed to testify for myself when I don't remember what happened or get out of the headquarters of the most dangerous criminal organization in Japan?!_

I feel the elevator come to a stop and my body grows stiff, cutting me away from my thoughts. _We were on the top floor._ I turn my head to Chūya, the doors open and he walks out into a furnished lobby, not looking to see if I was following him. When he did turn his head to me, my legs began tripping, moving on their own and the next thing I knew, I was standing behind to him, in front of two wooden doors.

"His office is just behind these doors." As if reading my mind, Chūya said this in a low grumble as I look up at him startled. "Prepare yourself, kid." _Prepare?! How do I prepare myself when I don't know what's gonna happen?! I was _ to meet "the boss" of the Port Mafia, but strangely at the same time, I was also a little curious. (I said 'a little', I mean even you gotta wonder, what kind of man rules a crime syndicate.)_ I don't know what I was feeling was curiosity or fear, but whatever the case, I was going to meet him. And I secretly hoped that I would not cry. As the doors opened, we stepped into the room. And then… "Oh come on Elise ~ I'm only asking for this one favor!"

_…Huh?_

The room we entered was dark but dimly lit by a candlestick that looked like it'd been burning for hours sitting on a small three-legged table beside two velvet armchairs that were both facing a peculiar metal wall that stretched out across the room. The other walls were painted in a bright aqua green color and had wooden baseboard across the bottom above the marble floor. Decorated in black and white diamonds that lined diagonally underneath a red and violet picturesque rug.

A tall slender man and a young girl were on the opposite side of the room. A large wooden desk and a second armchair chair were placed behind them, while bookshelves alined sections of all the walls. The girl, who's name I guess was Elise, said turning her back to the man with her arms crossed. "You're always asking for the same favor!" She said pouting her face. She wore a red garnet dress with short puffy sleeves and had white frills at the bottom of her skirt, while underneath she wore a white buttoned-up shirt and a thin pink ribbon tied in a bow around the collar. Her long blond hair had straight bangs on her forehead while her long curls were pushed behind her ears and down her waist, and a matching red bow was clipped on the side of her head. Her skin was pale and her eyes were bright blue.

"Elise you're a lady ~," The man, who I assumed was her dad, holds up a pink dress that almost looked identical to the dress she was wearing by the puffy sleeves speaking in a desperate but cheeky voice. "It wouldn't kill you to act like one— or dress like one." He didn't resemble his daughter at all, it was kind of the opposite. He had striking jet black hair, wore a black trench coat that was similar to Chūya's, black trousers, a pinstriped suit jacket to match, and a wine-colored maroon scarf that hang over the shoulders of his coat and down to his knees. Underneath, he wore a white button-up shirt with a purple lavender tie, and also wore boney white gloves.

_…I…. have __absolutely__ no response to this._

Their bickering went back and forth, and of all that time, they didn't notice us coming in or standing at the door as we silently watch them. The conversation was all muffled words as I only listened to the bewildered thoughts in my head. 'This is the leader of the mafia?' I thought as I stood there dumbfounded._ 'I expected someone more… evil. And to think, this person is a dad that fusses around with his daughter…In a way, it kinda reminds me of how Howl and I would argue to each other or have a disagreement.' _For a moment mind wanders off, and I think about him. Then, interrupting my thoughts, in the most natural tone of voice, behind me I hear Chūya then says to him, "Boss, I brought her to you as instructed." In my mind, I'm thinking, '_How the hell is he not fazed by this?' _while I successfully hold back the urge to laugh.

He turns attention to us, wearing a startled expression on his face as if we surprised him. His hair was slicked back from his face, showing his violet eyes and leaving equal length bangs on both sides of his face. He looks first to Chūya, then straight at me, and to my surprise gives me a somewhat kind smile. I couldn't say why, but to me, his smile didn't seem… genuine. I felt the earlier urge to laugh vanish, replacing it with an uncomfortable feeling of fear in my chest. He narrows his eyes but turns his head to Elise, who was not paying much attention to us but more onto her father. His smile turned more authentically real as he spoke to her in the way you would talk to a baby. "Daddy has a guest now Elise. We'll continue this conversation later."

Like it was planned on cue, the light from the candle suddenly burned out, leaving the room in total darkness. For a few moments, no one spoke. The room was dead silent, I only heard the sounds of my shaking breath and beating heart that felt like I was stuck in a horror film. "Forgive me for that whole ordeal you had to witness." Startling me, I hear the boss's voice, now speaking in a much deeper tone that sent goosebumps down my arms and made my hands slightly tremble. "Children in our days can be a handful sometimes." The metal wall that the chairs were facing began to make a humming noise before it came down, revealing a hidden window that looked out to the sky, and filling the room with a warm orange glow. I turned my head back to the direction of the boss and his daughter, but I was taken back as I looked into the eyes of a new face. Though nothing had changed in his appearance, I felt only threatened his new unwavering glance that his eyes looked upon me. The violet color that I saw before, completely darkened and lacking from the suns light that they pierced through my body like a bullet. And the girl, Elise, was no longer next to him. Like as if she vanished, disappeared as soon as the light of the candle did. He gives me a wide smile as he said, "My name is Ōgai Mori, I am the leader of the Port Mafia." All at once, my body freezes up like a statue, but I could feel legs slightly shaking. _'__What the hell? Where did she go? He wasn't the same guy from before, he's like a completely different person!' _I couldn't pull my eyes away from him, it felt like my feet were rooted to rug as I stood there petrified in fear.

He strides to the chair that was closest to him and gestures his hand to the empty chair beside him. "Please take a seat." He said giving me a smile that didn't reach his cheeks, it seemed empty and fake. From behind, I feel Chūya lightly shoving me from my back towards the chair, and I compelled to obey despite my urge to run away as I desperately clench the end of my hoodie. I wanted to cry, scream, shout, but my throat refused to. I could feel the mafia boss giving me an uncomfortable stare as if he was examining me under a giant microscope. "I can see you trembling." I hear him say in a gentle voice, sounding almost as if he was close to my ear. When he said those words, I felt my heart skip a beat and dropped in the pits of my stomach. I refused to look up at him, and I continued desperately squeezing the ends of my hoodie. "I understand why you could be frightened," he continued. "but I can assure you, you're not in any kind of trouble."

"W-Why am I here?" I shakily spoke without thinking, the only words I was able to send out my mouth. I slightly lift my head to look up at him. Sitting with one leg over the other, he gives me a small subtle smile. "I heard a few stories that have been going around the city about you, Kaiya." I froze at the mention of him calling me by my name. Though I knew that probably would regret asking, I shakily asked him. "How do you know my name?"

"I know a lot of things, my dear." His eyes glistened to my anxious expression. "I know more about you than you may think." He turns his head and looks at Chūya. "There's a folder on my desk. Would you please?" Obediently, Chūya casual walks over to the wooden desk, coming back with a deep blue folder. He hands it to Mori, who opens it up and silently reads as Chūya walks back behind me. His eyes trail across the page, as he read out loud. What he read from that folder, terrified me, sending chills down my spine.

"Kaiya Nozomi, 15 years old, born on the 12th of April and raised in the city Onomichi. At the age of 12, both your parents died in a car accident 3 years ago, where afterward you were moved to a foster home in Tokyo. One night, a mysterious fire broke out and burned the home down and everyone was able to safely evacuate, none were badly injured." He paused, looking up at me. His eyes made it feel like he was reading me like a book. "Everyone, except for one gifted girl." My body goes into a panic and I start building up with questions. But before I got the split chance to ask, _'How the hell do you know about that?'_ he continued. "The police assumed that she perished in the fire, but all this time, they never knew that she was living on the streets. Only now to show up here in Yokohama City…" He closes the folder, looking back up at me. His eyes glistened in the sunlight, showing an evil kind of feel to them. "Did I get any of that right?" He asked.

I felt as if I had been glued to the chair, unable to wriggle myself free. In years since the accident, I never once used my call myself by surname because I thought that I wouldn't be of use to me anymore. Hearing my it again and now, only brings back bits and pieces of the remaining blurred memories of my past, and my parents, who's faces I cannot picture. I felt tears rising, but I pushed them back. "How do you—" as I was about exclaim for an answer from him, he cuts me off and said this in an unreadable smile, "When you are the leader of a criminal syndicate with connections to the underworld, you tend to acquire information like this."

I was taken back by the information he seemed to dig up on me. He knows about my ability, he knows about the fire, and how I spent the last two years with Howl on the streets. If it were in a normal situation, I would probably be impressed, but since it's with a mafia boss, it just makes the atmosphere threateningly dangerous to be in. If he knows this much about me, could he have a folder full of data about Howl? Would the mafia have tried to kidnap him if he was alone like I was? Gathering up all my courage while trying not to sound scared, I asked in a deep demanding voice."WHY AM I HERE?"

Though Chūya's eyes narrowed by the sudden rise of my voice, Mori's face remained expression was calm and stiff with his evil smile. "The reason is that I have taken an interest in you and your friend." _He must mean Howl._"Well, in your abilities to be more specific." He rephrased himself as he explains. "The Port Mafia is a coalition of skilled individuals and assassins, but our organization mostly takes its pride in the gifted users that serve as key members. Though there are only a few of us gifted in the mafia, like Mr. Nakahara and myself, whenever we hear of an ability user whose power is of interest to us, we—."

"Talking like that will confuse the kid." Chūya interrupts Mori and cuts him off from. "It's best to just get straight to the point."

"Alright, alright." He closes his eyes sullenly, letting out a small sigh. He looks back at me, continuing in a sweet tone and flashing that empty smile. "Kaiya, would you be interested in joining the Port Mafia?" All at once, the world felt like it was switched on pause, a million thoughts rushed through my head, and I started to feel more anxious than I already was. Lowering my head to the floor, I could feel my heart beating wildly and uncontrollably fast. As I tried to take in breaths through my nostrils, my chest tightened every time I tried, I felt like I was suffocating and I was not getting any air in my lungs. Without purposely meaning to, I opened my mouth to try to breathe, but instead, I shouted. I don't remember what I said exactly. My mind went blank, however, when I came too, I felt like my throat was sore and dry as I let out a deep exhale and was able to breathe in the air again and straighten out my thoughts. I realized that the room became very silent, I didn't know kinds of expressions Mori and Chūya were making because my head was down, but I had a feeling that what I said was spoken way out of line._ 'Ohcrap, ohcrap, ohcrap! You've done it this time Kaiya! What the hell were you thinking?! Oh wait, that's right— I wasn't! I didn't say something that will get me killed right?!'_Then to my astonishment, I heard Mori chuckled while saying, "Well, I should've expected that you are quite brave to be saying things like that to me." I look up to him dumbfounded. _Huh? Is he seriously not taken back by that? Wait, did I say something that stupid?! _He stops this chuckling as he continues, "But though I can't force you to join the mafia, I would still like to make a wager with you instead?"

_A wager? Does he mean… _"A deal?" I asked him for finishing my thought aloud. "Correct." He explains. "To join or gain your freedom, I would like you to participate in a test." _A test?_ "What kind of test?" I asked curiously wanting to know the details. "It's nothing special," he spoke in such a carefree tone, it was hard to think if he was being serious about what he's saying or not. "but I guarantee that it would be the kind that you would be able to pass. Of course, the test would involve all the kind of qualities to add, intelligence in tactics and strategy, as well as athletics and vigilantes in mortal combat."

"In other words, you will go against one of our members." His voice suddenly turns serious as he continues. "An arena will be set up in a location somewhere in Yokohama where you both will fight till one of you either forfeits or lose." _Fight?! What kind of test is that?! (Is what I would have said aloud, but then I remembered I had an electric dog collar around my neck.)_ As I listen to his words, I carefully thought out through everything I have just heard and put them all into a conclusion of what would happen if I accept their offer, whilst trying to keep myself sane. "So if I pass the test, you will let me go free, but if I fail, I join the mafia?" He solemnly nods. _But if they don't know I can't use my ability, would they make an exception or something? I mean cause if they do know and are just giving me the options to die fighting or die honest, then it'll be just like signing my death certificate._ Then an idea came popped in my head. "Would you allow me to have a weapon in the fight?" I asked, feeling my heartbeat running faster. Mori and Chūya give each other puzzling looks, but with no further questioning as to why, Mori turns to me and nods, "I have no objections. If you require a weapon, one will be given to you on the day." He said.

Small drops of sweat rolled down my head, swallowing a small lump in my throat, I asked. "And… if I refuse to take the test?" _I think I might regret this too. _I thought. "What do you think?" His subtle smile disappears, and his eyebrows narrow at me threateningly as he continues. I felt my whole body freeze up and I unconsciously curse myself for asking. "We wouldn't kill you, of course, you're too valuable of a gifted user for that. However, if you were to refuse to take part, then you would have no choice but to work for us against your own free will." Does he mean, make me a slave? —No. He would make me his prisoner, I would end up working for them either way if I refused or fail. There was no way out of it, he knew it, and I knew it.

Though there was no hope of winning with an uncontrollable ability, I still that I had to try, and considering that there was no fourth option. Swallowing another lump that formed in my throat, I said in an anxious voice, "I…I'll take your test." Then I quickly added, "B-But I would need some time to prepare. I'm… a little rusty." I sarcastically thought to myself, _'Rusty?! I am such a great actress.'_ Looking as if he was pleased with himself, he gives me a small sly smile."The test will take place tomorrow at noon, so you'll have plenty of time to practice. Of course, Chūya will be there to keep an eye on you." He turns is eyes to Chūya, who was casually standing behind me. "Escort our guest to her chamber."

"Sir." I felt Chūya lightly touch my shoulder as if signaling me to get up, and I hesitantly I complied whilst I try not to collapse from my now tired legs. Without looking or saying anything to either of them, I silently turned my back and slowly walked away, with Chūya lightly pushing me from behind. "I look forward to seeing you again Miss Nozomi." He calls out to me as Chūya opens the door to the lobby. "And I wish you luck on the challenge to come." The way he said that made me feel like I was a chess piece. Stuck in this twisted game that I can never quite out of, and I was only 5 or 4 turns away from losing to him. Chūya closing the door from behind, and side by side, we walked across to the elevator. As we approached, the elevator's doors open, and standing before my eyes, was a man. At once, I immediately recognized him, remembering the last person I saw before I woke up in this Mafia Hell Hall. **_Ryunosuke Akutagawa._** As we pass by him entering the elevator as he leaves, I catch him giving me a death like glare as his steel-grey eyes made contact with mine and it felt like time was ticking slower. Our contact broke a moment after, and he continues walking towards Mori's office. Though I couldn't explain why it felt like I was staring into the eyes of a broken soul. Chūya pushes on a button, the elevator slowly closes, and I watch Akutagawa walk into Mori's office as the doors shut.

We took the elevator, traveling to a few floors down under Mori's office, and walked around through the empty black hallways in silence. Throughout the whole walk, neither of us said a word, and we never once passed another mafia member. We soon ended up in an ornate hallway full of grand looking doors. We walked to the last door at the end of the hallway that stood beside a tall window. "You will stay here tonight." Chūya turns the shinny golden knob and opening the door to an enormous bedroom. Sitting against the left wall of black marble, four-poster bed fame with four long poles at each of the bed's corners, held a large bed mattress that was dressed in stone blue sheets and two matching satin pillows. The wall to the right side and across from the bed was all a giant window made from glass that looked outside into the city whereby now, it was already beginning to hit nightfall. I noticed that the room also had two furnished velvet chairs and a small side-table with a clear jug of water and two glass cups between them. On the blue spruce wall across from the door and us, was a small brown oak door with a metal coat hanger on the knob that held a white nightgown.

Standing beside me, Chūya begins explaining what things I had to know. "Dinner will be around seven o'clock. A few guards will be stationed outside, that door leads to a small bathroom, and the windows are indestructible— and bulletproof, in case you try to break them. Breakfast will begin…" He continues, but I wasn't paying attention. During the whole walk to now from Mori's office, I kept replaying the details of the test and tried thinking of ways I could win._ I know that I'll probably haft to use my ability at some point, just so they won't get suspicious, but the problem is how long could I be able to hold it in before I start puking out blood. If I pushed my limits and overexert my capabilities to use it, I might as well be putting myself at great risk of passing out or slowly dying. I'd just be taking a gamble with my life—_

"Hey!" Snapping out from my thoughts, a gloved hand was waving over my face, trying to grab my attention. "You listening kid?" My head turns around like a bullet and Chūya gives me frown as if thinking I was being disrespectful. (That says it all) "A 'thank you' would be nice," he said grimly.

"Oh, Sorry. Thanks." Quickly walk into the room not paying much interest to my surroundings, and I placed my bag down onto the bed. I took out my bottle, and drank the last bit of the water, before hearing Chūya say behind me in low voice. "You know, I noticed that you've been staring at my hand for a while earlier." He then added, "If you've got an apology to say, say it."

I stopped my drinking, putting the bottle away and slowly turning to him. He was leaning against the frame of the door with his arms crossed as he waits for my response. I look at the ground and thought that even if I apologized, he probably wouldn't accept it. So gathering up the words in my throat, I deeply bowed my head to him as my hands clench to the ends of my hoodie. "I'm very sorry about your hand. It was an accident and I didn't—"

"Forget it." He said stopping me, cutting me off from my apology, sounding like the whole ordeal didn't matter. "Whether it was an accident or not, you acted out of self-defense. I don't blame you for following your instincts, I would have done the same if I was in your position."

"Still, I am sorry. I don't like using my ability to hurt others. Not even… people you." After I few moments for a response, I hear his footsteps walk away. I slightly lift my head and see him walking out, grabbing the door by the handle, and closing the door. I sighed, and I lift my head back to up turning back to my bed. Then as I did, I realized that the door didn't click shut, and just as I turned my head to check, it opens again. "Dammit!" Chūya hissed as he briskly walks into the room with a huff, this time he closes the door behind him with a loud click. "A piece of advice kid." he bit out harshly in a low growl, as I see him grinding his teeth together. "Just because you're young, don't think the boss won't act kind towards ya. Don't expect tomorrow to be a fair or easy fight." Hearing this made me feel a little reassured, but before I can get a word, or even say 'thank you', he cut me off again.

"Don't get the wrong idea though." he snaps back in a sour bitter tone. "It's just something to keep in mind before the match tomorrow. I'm not looking to be friends with ya." _Like that wasn't on my mind. _"I'll be back with your dinner later." And with those last words, he takes his leave and resumes to the door, not giving me a final look. I quickly took in a breath, speaking up in a small voice. "Chūya?" He stops, his hand had just grasped the doorknob. He didn't turn to face me, but I knew he was listening, so I didn't mind. So taking another breath I continued, "Thank you." As I said those words, I felt my lips form into a small smile. We stay like that for a few moments in silents, then without a response, he closes the door and I hear a loud click, indicating that he locked the door.

I stood there as a couple of minutes passed before my smile disappears and my legs collapse down on themselves, making me land on the floor with a silent thud. I could feel my heart slowly sinking, like the black pool in my dreams, and my small silver tears dripped onto the carpet as they continued to rise to the corners of my eyes. Failing to fight them back, I covered my hands over my eyes, whilst trying to keep my voice in as I silently began to sob_._

'Why? _Why am I crying? Why can't I stop crying?'_ It felt like my head was a cloud that was waiting to burst with rain. All that time I was in that room, talking to him, unable to escape him, I wished wholeheartedly for this to just be another nightmare that I could wake up from. At that moment, I realized that for the first time in two years, I felt scared. Not only of my ability or myself, but the world I was in, and the people who craved only for power and control. Thoughts about tomorrow kept growing inside my head as tears continued to fall. _'If what Chūya was telling me was true, and if I was to be faced with a strong opponent, then there was a good chance I may fail the test, and I'll never see Howl again. I may never get to apologize to the Agency for running away or even have the chance to meet Dazai. If I fail at passing the test, I may never again get to have a normal life, or return to the one that I had.'_

As I continued to cry, and my breathing became harder and painful every time I hold back a sob, I can only think to myself, _'What have I done?…'_

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Next Chapter will be published around May, but while I work on that, I'll be writing a Bungou Stray Dogs short story. Details of progress and story are in my profile, and thank you for reading!


	6. Chapter 5

Hey Guys! Sorry that I have been away for a while now. (Things have been hectic since I last posted.) I do have a good reason for it though. This chapter was supposed to be a longer one, but I figured with the amount of free time I had I thought I could get it done before the 'End of July Deadline.' However, with what with COVID, school/TAFE, and other things, I knew I had to finish this up at some point just before I started to try and shape things up again and get back to the same old me. Anyway, enough of me, please enjoy the chapter and I hope to hear from you in the comments!

Enjoy!

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Chapter 5: (Atsushi's POV)

**_Many Hours Earlier… _**

While I steadily held a clear glass of water in one hand, I knocked on the infirmary door with the other and waited for a response. "It's open." I hear Yosano's muffled voice from inside. I turned on the knob and opened the door to see her sitting in a chair in front of her desk with a tired look on her face as I walked in and shut the door behind me.

She wore her white lab coat underneath her blouse and black tie, and her face looked as if she might pass out any moment from the exhaustion and worry she endured from today. I tried forcing a smile, and handed her the glass of water as I asked her, "How is Ranpo doing?"

"He looked like a wreck, but he'll live." She said this before taking huge gulps of her water. After drinking nearly the entire glass, she lets out a first quenching sigh as she continues. "Whatever kind of ability that girl has, it's strong. I would almost say that her ability was… not human."

_'"Not human?"' _I was almost a little puzzled by her strange illustration of Kaiya's ability. I was about to ask what she meant, but as my eyes trailed the room, landing on the bed beside me and behind the curtains, where Ranpo laid unconscious, the thought desisted and was replaced with guilt. Changed out of his brown cape, hat, blazer and striped tie, he now wore a blue hospital robe, while white bandages were wrapped around his head and neck, and blankets covered his lower half. Next to him on a side table, his cracked glasses were placed atop a small metal tray just beside his hat.

As I see him motionless, I started wondering to myself that if I haven't left, he wouldn't be lying in that bed right now. _'I'm sorry Ranpo.' _I pulled my eyes away from him and back to Yosano, as I feel my stomach slightly squeeze inwards and the sight of him wounded me. "When do you think he'll wake up?" I asked her, trying to sound less depressive than I really was. "I should say, a couple of hours." She replied, leaning her hand against her cheek and her elbow, her face looking more tired from just speaking to me. "I'll let you know if he wakes up."

I thanked her, and though I was relieved to hear that he would be fine, I couldn't help but feel my body grow heavy with regret. When I walked out the infirmary, giving one last painful look at Ranpo before leaving. As I closed the door and began walking back to the office, my mind started to vividly replay flashbacks of the aftermath like an old black and white movie.

* * *

**_~ Flashback~_**

**_A Few Hours Earlier…_**

As soon as we brought Ranpo into the infirmary and had him stabilized in Yosano's care, Kunikida and Junichiro went down to the café to investigate. Immediately after things calmed down a little, the President immediately called every member to an urgent debrief to discuss about Kaiya and what were we to do with her now missing.

I was the last person to walk into the meeting room just before it started. As I entered, everyone who had already been seated or was discussing amongst themselves instantly turns their head to me. Sitting on one side of the table Kunikida, Junichiro, and the President were seated while Kenji, Yosano, and Kyōka sat across from them. I sat in an empty chair at the head of the table between Kyōka and Kunikida whilst I try pretending to act normal.

As the room went silent for a few minutes, I tried not to have eye contact with anyone, but when I noticed Kyōka giving me a sideways glance and turned her eyes away, I felt as if I were a stranger to everyone. Then from across the table, I hear Kunikida clearing his throat, wanting to have my attention as he begins to speak in a low voice, "Atsushi, you were the last person to see Ranpo and Kaiya together before the explosion, correct?" I gave him a quick nod. "Can you tell us what occurred before the incident?"

I then told them all the entire story from start to finish. How Ranpo and I convinced Kaiya to have lunch with us, how she reacted when Ranpo made an inquiry on her actions about the earlier incident, and how I left them alone while I went upstairs to retrieve my wallet before finding him when I came back with Yosano and Kenji after the explosion. When I finished, sat in dead silence as they all avoid my gaze in deep thought. The President was the first to ask and break the silence. "Did anything seemed amiss with Miss Miyazaki before you left her alone with Ranpo?"

"No sir," I answered him truthfully. "Although she was a little shy at first, throughout lunch and before I left, she didn't seem at all suspicious or acted in any way that was abnormal."

"Did you maybe asked her a question that she seemed uncomfortable with?" Kunikida then asked. "Maybe when you were trying to ask her about her ability?" I shake my head in response before explaining. "When we tried sneaking in questions on the topic, she managed to dodge the subject. So to me, it was pretty obvious that she didn't want to bring it up."

"Ranpo was wearing his glasses when we found him, wasn't he?" Kenji suddenly asks, raising his hand as if he were calling out to a teacher in class. "Yes, he was," Yosano replied, her voice in a spitefully low tone. "Which means he must have used _Ultra-Deduction_ at one point before the explosion." She paused, bringing a clenched hand to her lip, as her expression grew serious. "However, the question is why though?"

"There are a few theories." Junichiro implied, looking through the notepad had while taking notes from my story. "Maybe Ranpo was forced to use _Ultra-Deduction_ as a last-minute resort in questioning without Miss Miyazaki noticing."

"Or perhaps he might have gotten impatient." Yosano put in, her eyes glowing dangerously. "Using _Ultra-Deduction_, he could've blown his cover, and told her something that he found out and she didn't want him to know. Then they fought, Ranpo was badly defeated, and then she ran away to avoid getting herself caught red-handed."

'_That's a bit exaggerated. Considering that it was only 15 minutes after I left and 3 floors above them before it happened.'_ I thought to myself, dumbfounded. "That scenario is not likely." We all turned our attention to the President, confused and curious by his sudden statement. His silver like eyes look at us with a steely expression and he explains. "From what Mr. Miyazaki told me and Kunikida in our earlier talk; Kaiya is sick. Since early childhood, she has been diagnosed with a rare case of Tuberculosis."

"And also because of her disease, her gift wasn't stable enough to control, and she could only wield it to a limited amount." Kunikida continued after him. "Otherwise if used her gift to a greater extent, it would converge on her body from the inside and take damage to her respiratory system."

"Do we at least know if there were any witnesses who saw Ranpo and Kaiya before the explosion?" Yosano asked, sounding as though knowing Kaiya's illness were irrelevant. "We ask around the neighboring residents," Junichiro says. "but we were only able to get a few eyewitnesses who saw the café explode, and Kaiya running out afterward. There weren't any others who saw them before the incident occurred though."

"What about the waitress who at the café around the time?" I asked, just remembering that she was the only other person there with us, and thinking that she saw what transpired. "Unfortunately we weren't able to question her." Kunikida saids shaking his head, looking through his notebook as it was probably written down. "We heard that the roof came down on her after the explosion, and she received a severe concussion and soon taken to a hospital."

"What about her Mr. Miyazaki?" Kyōka then asked, finally speaking after her staying completely silent. "For the time being, he will be in our custody." The President replied in a deep voice."With the matter of the mafia roaming, the streets and his daughter went missing, it may be the best to keep him here while we question him on Kaiya."

"Are you sure he will talk?" Yosano then asked sounding mildly intimidated by that proposal. "We are trying to work our way around that issue," Kunikida said, pushing his glasses upwards, adjusting it. "After the incident cleared up, we were obligated to tell Mr. Miyazaki about the Port Mafia's predicted m.o, and he demanded to be released so he could find Kaiya, therefore refusing to tell us anything we need to know. However, with a little convincing, I think he might be willing to help so long as we can grantee that his daughter will be returned to back to him safely."

"But should we really trust him to help us?" We all look at Yosano, who continues on with a resentful tone as if this was something she was keeping in and decided to let out. "They walked in unannounced, asks to see Dazai, then an hour later when the idiot doesn't show up, an explosion sets off downstair, and Ranpo winds up nearly dead in the rubble. And did you forget about it earlier? _'The more we don't know the better_?_'_ If anything, instead of thinking about what happened downstairs, we should be questioning what they are hiding from us."

She continues on, saying how they could have alias names and fake ID's, around the table began I see how everyone's expressions began to waver and looked as if they were already considering Yosano's points of the matters at hand that we didn't bother to overlook. I too start to realize that, but I also noticed that the more she questions what they could or couldn't be hiding, the more I can hear the tone in her voice turning from stern to fiery.

'_She was angry.' _I knew that she and Ranpo had a very good friendship with each other, and I could understand her feelings over him getting hurt, but I can't decide if she's either trying to look deeper into the truth of what happened, or she thinks Kaiya is really the true culprit and is trying to back that statement up with uncertain theories and facts.

I see everyone's faces, including Kunikida's look away from Yosano to the floor in doubt. _'I half to say something.'_ Clenching my fists tightly and gritting my teeth, and summoning all the courage I had, I planned to speak up and say anything that might make her stop pushing on.

"_Enough_." But just as I was about to do any of those things, the President's voice, strong and fierce, sound off through the room like a powerful church bell, and Yosano immediately stopped talking as he gives her a threatening look in his eyes as the room falls into silence. Though I too was a little surprised by the sudden outburst from the President, I felt a little relieved that I wasn't the one who spoke up against Yosano while she was in a state of accusative anger. Yosano withdrew from speaking up and I can see her trying to sink into the chair as if to disappear.

After a few moments, the President's serious expression softened, and I hear him let out a sigh. "Whether her actions were intentioned or not, the fact remains that Miss Miyazaki is a _prime suspect_ in this incident." He saids this in a tone that made me think he was speaking to all of us and not only to Yosano. "There is still no clear evidence that it was Miss Miyazaki's fault. Eyewitnesses, blood samples, and false accusations can only tell us little about what really happened. However, as of now, she has still not yet been found. Mafia operatives could already be targeting her capture, so our top priority right now is to locate and bring her back safely. So to all of you, is that understood?"

"Yes sir." We said.

* * *

**_~Flashback ended~_**

After the meeting was dismissed, the President assigned Junichiro and Kenji to go to the Special Operations Division to find further information on Kaiya and her father's profiles, while everyone else went to search the city for her. Me and Dr. Yosano were assigned to stay behind to look after Ranpo, and Kunikida was handling the commotion of the aftermath downstairs while Mr. Miyazaki was kept in a small room down on the next floor below us. My mind drifted deep into thought as I walked down the hall. I couldn't stop thinking about all that happened. Although I didn't have a good explanation of why, _I _**_knew_** that Kaiya was innocent.

_'She was... scared…' _Ranpo's final words before he fell into unconsciousness kept replaying in my head over and over again. I still didn't understand what he meant. _Was he trying to say that she was scared of getting into trouble? Or was she scared of something else? _The thoughts have been on my mind since.

"Atsushi." I blinked out of my thoughts as I was greeted by Kunikida, who walks towards me from the office while holding his notebook and a folder in one hand. "Mr. Kunikida," I greeted him. I suddenly noticed the irritated and tired look on his face, and although I probably knew the answered, I asked him while smiling sheepishly, "How was everything downstairs?"

"Not very well," he admitted in a grumble, narrowing his eyebrows into a sneer and placing his thumb and index finger over his nose in frustration. "after the explosion went off someone called the police, and the whole block went into a commotion. I had to explain the whole situation to them and told them we had it under control before they cleared everyone out." For some reason, I felt a small smirk grew onto my face. Letting out a heavy sigh, he lets down his hand to properly look at me before continuing. "Anyway, I came to check how Ranpo's doing?"

"He's… fine." As I told him this, the previous feelings of guilt came back to me as my smile slowly faded. "Yosano said he should wake up within the next couple of hours. Do you know if they found her yet?" I added, hoping that his answer would be that they did. "No one has reported her in, so I assume not." As he tells me this, I felt a little disappointed. Before he was about to continue and say something else, his mouth stopped mid-short, his eyes began looking at me with concern. "You okay kid?"

"Hmm?" I blinked, realizing that my face probably looked depressive or glum. "Yeah, I'm fine," I told him, feeling as if I was half-lying. "I was thinking about Kaiya." He looks at me with serious eyes, as if he already knew what I was going to say. I cleared my throat before continuing. "I know she didn't hurt Ranpo," I said to him. "It just doesn't make any sense to me. She and her father came all this way to see Dazai, and yet she attacked Ranpo and ran away? They both seemed very desperate to see him, and there isn't any conclusive evidence that invalids her to be linked with what happened." I finished, but I had no idea what kind of words came out of me.

I felt as though I was just trying to form words out of my mouth, when all I really wanted to say was what short of reason would Kaiya have that would risk her not being able to meet Dazai.

"There isn't any proof that she _was_ the cause of the explosion," Kunikida saids to me as if he was clarifying something. "but she was the only other person, aside from the waitress, who was alone with Ranpo before she went ran away. If she was somehow the cause of the explosion, or indeed the culprit as Yosano believes, then there wouldn't be any other reason why we shouldn't apprehend her as guilty." Hearing him say this, I feel a slight hint of aggravation build up in me as if his words were more reprimanded than above reproach.

"_She was scared._" Those were the words that snapped out of my mouth. Just remembering Ranpo's final words made my mouth move without me noticing, and I see Kunikida looking at me with his eyes widened in a mixture of baffled and perplexed. Not knowing how to explain what I meant, I tried rephrasing what I said. "_What_ if she was scared? You said that Kaiya's ability became unstable because of her sickness, right? So maybe she did lose control, and it may have been her, but it would have all been an accident."

"Whether it was an accident or not, she is still a prime suspect in the case." Kunikida snaps me sternly. "Either until we find her or Ranpo gains consciousness, there is no sure way to know what really happened. They were the only ones who can tell us what went on. Besides if it really wasn't her fault and if it was just an accident like you say, can you give me a good reason why she still ran away?" I froze to his question. _'Why?' _I… didn't know why._ 'Was there a good reason? If she was innocent, then she wouldn't have left, would she? Maybe she was scared… but, was she scared of being accused...or getting caught?' _

"Listen, I just got a call back from Junichiro with further intel from Kaiya, so I'm going to question Mr. Miyazaki in the interrogation room." Kunikida saids to me in a sigh as he walks past me. "You're welcome to join me if you want, but I don't want to discuss this anymore until after the interview." I then hear him say in a grumble, "We've already got too much on our plate, and I'd rather not eat more than I can chew." I turned in his direction and I see him walk away. As he almost reaches the door to the end of the hallway to the office door, an unusual thought came to me. _'If there _**_was_**_ a reason why Kaiya caused the explosion and hurt Ranpo intentionally, would her father know? Probably not, but then, would he know why she would run away if she was innocent? He might give us a reason to why she ran from us and the scene.'_ So then, almost in a run, I sped out of the hallway and into the office just as I was able to catch up with Kunikida.

* * *

Just a quick exclaimer; I may be finished with Chapter 6 by the middle of August and I might be able to squeeze in Chapter 7 (last of part 1) before the beginning of November. During around September and October, I will be working on another short Bungou Stray Dogs story that is inspired by the fanfic by "aiupenn."

Thank You for reading!


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: (Atsushi's POV)

"I'll be expecting another call from Junichiro soon. At one point when I leave, I'll need you to take over and ask him a couple of questions." Kunikida tells me as we both stood outside the room where Mr. Miyazaki was held. "Even if he refuses, keep asking. Even the smallest answers he could give us could prove to be relevant in our investigation. I'll be outside if you need me, got it?" I nodded in response. "Yeah." Kunikida opened the door Mr. Miyazaki was sitting in a chair facing us, with had his arms crossed against his chest. His eyes shot up as if he was in deep thought, and lock onto us as we walked into the room. "Why am I still here?" He demanded to Kunikida as he paid no attention to me. "I've waited long enough. I should be out there looking for my daughter."

"Not yet." Kunikida told him as we both seated ourselves in the two vacant chairs across the table from him. "We just have a few questions to ask you before you're cleared to leave." He says almost in a growl, "If this is about Kaiya, I've already told you, I don't know where she is!" His hand angrily slams on the table in a tightly clenched fist. Though I found myself startled by his outburst, I noticed that his blue eyes slightly glowed, and his teeth began to sharpen and grit as if those of an animal. I quickly turned away just as he found me staring at him, and as if realizing why I was looking, he closes his eyes and mouth, takes in a long deep breath, and lets out a sigh as he combs a hand through his white hair. He opens his eyes to us, the glow in his eyes faded as he speaks again in a more composed voice. "Look, I'm very sorry about what happened to your friend, I truly am. But if what you said earlier is true, and if they're dangerous people looking for Kaiya, then that is more of a reason why I need to be out there to protect her and not sit around in here. I have nothing to hide."

"Really?" Kunikida saids this as he opens the small folder he was carrying before. From beside him, I saw that from inside the file, there were only a small handful of pages that were stapled together by the top left corner. As I see him flip through the first couple of pages, he then stops on a page that subheads; **_Tokyo City Hall Citizen Records. _**Kunikida reads through the page as he speaks. "According to Tokyo City Hall, although Kaiya records are claimed to be a citizen of Japan, we were not able to find any birth certificates or any education records under her name to back up that statement. Do you have any idea why?" Looking up from the folder, he waited for Mr. Miyazaki's response.

"For starters, Kaiya is homeschooled." Mr. Miyazaki explains. "Due to her Tuberculosis, I found that it was risky for her to go to any public schools because of her occasional coughing fits and the air pollution that was preventing her from breathing properly. We take trips outside the city to the countryside so that her lungs could recuperate and breathe in a cleaner environment. However, for the birth certificates, the caretakers at the foster home she lived in claimed that her birth certificates were intact and kept on record, but at the time, I didn't confirm their claim so I was not aware that they were not. I don't understand why are those matters relevant?" Kunikida's brow slightly cringed into a frown, which I thought was a little strange. It was almost as if he was expecting a different answer from him. Kunikida's expression softened, he regained his composure. He gets out of his chair and begins to slowly walk around the table, with a folder still in hand. He asks, "Then about her disease…"

"What about it?" Mr. Miyazaki asked, looking at Kunikida raising an eyebrow in response. "It's just that there were no medical files under her name that regard to her being diagnosed with Tuberculosis." Mr. Miyazaki scoffs as he answers, "That's because we don't go to hospitals in Tokyo. Since I own a small clinic and have a medical degree, I have always been able to handle her illness myself. However, only if Kaiya was experiencing more serious symptoms like chest pains or heavy breathing, we go to hospitals for checkups." He continues explaining, adding on and on to the question as I sit there silently listening, while also eyeing Kunikida who wore a dark expression. I couldn't figure out what was happening in his brain.

From what I am able to gather from Mr. Miyazaki's statements, most of what he explained was well detailed and seemed to make some sense since I know very little about Tuberculosis. However, in the way, he talked to us… I don't know, it was like he was too… _'careful' _with his answers. His natural and calm tone of voice almost sounded as if it were forced, and though the answers and reasons he has given us sounded rational, they were somehow a little too hard to believe.

Abruptly forcing me out of my thoughts, Kunikida madly slams the folder down on the table in between me and Mr. Miyazaki. "If all you're gonna do is keep spitting lies in our faces, then how about coming up with one that explains why Kaiya's record state that she has been **_dead_** for two years!" He yells at Mr. Miyazaki who only widens his eyes in response. I was frozen in shock and baffled by his claim. What was he talking about? Kunikida then noticing my face. He then saids to me, his voice returning to a serious tone. "I didn't want to tell you earlier kid, but when we called Kaiya's previous foster home for her adoption papers, and they claimed that she died in a fire outbreak that happened over two years ago."

From underneath his hand where he slammed down on the table, I see that the folder was showing a different page. A picture of Kaiya was on the top left-hand corner of the page, with small details of her profile written beside it. Upon squinting at the small writing that was just barely showing between Kunikida's long boney fingers, I noticed the text next to the date of her birthday. I felt my face go pale and my heart sink as I see what was written;

**_Born 12/4/04 - Died 17/6/19._ **

"She was never adopted," Kunikida continued. "and she was never diagnosed with Tuberculosis. After we collected the blood sample from the alleyway from the café earlier this morning, we put it through a DNA scan and found that there are no hospital records of any kind that are under her name." I lift my head up back to Mr. Miyazaki, who was also looking at the folder as Kunikida raised his hand for him to see. His eyes slightly narrow irritably as he saw closely what was written on the page. "Is there anything more about Kaiya that you want to tell us?" Kunikida asks him, sounding as if this was Mr. Miyazaki's final warning. "Well, that all depends." Mr. Miyazaki said, his voice turning dark. "Do you think Kaiya was responsible for what happened? If your answer isn't good, **_this_** is all I haft to say." Kunikida's face looked as if he was about to burst out screaming as I vividly see a small vein pop in the middle of his forehead. Intense silence fell between them as they both glared threateningly into each other's eyes. It was like they were both waiting to see what the other person would do or say next. Kunikida huffs, almost in a way that can you see fumes coming from his nostrils as he slowly says to him deeply. "Either you talk, or I'll—"

Then cutting off from Kunikida and making me jump a few inches off my chair, there was a vibrating sound of a phone coming from Kunikida's pocket. "Aren't you going to get that?" Mr. Miyazaki asks, a small smirk appeared on the corner his lips. He looked as if knew that was going to happen. Clicking his tongue irately at Mr. Miyazaki's remark, Kunikida reached into his back pocket and pulled out his flip-phone. _'That must be Junichiro.'_ I thought. Seeing him read the screen, his eyebrows narrow and he grips the phone in his hand as I hear him curse under his breath. _'Guess it is him.' _He slightly eases his grips and clears his throat before turning his head to me. "I'll be right back." He says to me. Walking to the door, he gives Mr. Miyazaki one last threatening glare before opening the door and closing it as he steps outside. Now, with Kunikida gone to answer Junichiro's call, me and Mr. Miyazaki were both left alone together in the room in silence.

I was supposed to start questioning him as Kunikida said, but I didn't know what to say. After hearing all that, I was speechless. I grabbed the folder that was left wide open on the table and looked through her profile. I checked it, then double-checked, but to no avail, I saw that Kunikida was right. Kaiya's birth info was labeled, '**_deceased_**_'_, and there was certainly no other known record that was under her name. I was confused, and I couldn't make sense of what I was reading. All of what Kunikida said, about Kaiya being dead and her profile data being false, made me question my beliefs on Kaiya. I thought that had a clear impression of her as a kind and shy person, but now I don't know if I should even trust the feeling I had to think she was innocent for what happened with Ranpo. I glance over from the folder to Mr. Miyazaki, who was just looking down at the table and avoiding having any eye contact with me. We sit there for a few minutes more in awkward silence as I tried deciding what my next move should be.

_'What should I say?' _I didn't know how I should play this out or what kind of questions would be appropriate to ask him. I then heard Mr. Miyazaki's voice cut through my train of thoughts and heard him say, "Do you what happened?" I realized that my eyes were staring in this direction the entire time I've been thinking, and I had misheard the question he asked me. His blue eyes look at me in a steely expression, but not one that was intimidating. "I-I'm sorry?" I asked him, my voice sounding slightly shaking for some reason. "Before Kaiya ran away," He clarified, making his question more clear. "do you know what happened?"

"I…I don't. Sorry." I mean I _do_ know what happened to say, _more or less_, but I wasn't sure if I should tell him since I didn't really know the full story of what happened. I didn't know what to say, or how to answer his question without making it sound as if it was Kaiya's fault. "Hmm." Mr. Miyazaki gives me an unreadable look before averting his eyes from mine. Moments passed in silence. I was getting a little impatient and wanted Kunikida to come back so that this awkward tension would finally end. For all, I know he could be standing right outside the door and finishing the phone call right now. _'No.'_ I unconsciously told myself. _'Sitting here and waiting for him isn't going to help find Kaiya. You can worry about the facts later. Right now, you need to say something. _**_Anything_**_.' _I cleared my head and began to speak as I tried not to make myself sound forced. "Mr. Miyazaki—"

"No need for formalities." He tells me, cutting me off. "Please, call me Howl." _Howl._ He looks at me with a cold glare as I continued from where I left off from without taking the mind to his sudden request. "I don't want to be blunt, but is there a reason why you won't cooperate with us?" In response to my question, he scoffs under his breath and turns away from me to avoid eye contact. Not really letting it bother me, I continued. "All that we are doing is so that we can help Kaiya. However, we can't do that if you continue to detest us and stay quiet about what you know."

"There are some things that aren't meant to be said." Howl mumbles in a volume that was loud enough for me to hear, as he still did not meet his eyes with mine. "The more that you don't know the better." _That was the same thing he said earlier about Kaiya's ability. _"I don't understand what you hope to achieve or gain by detesting us like this," I said to him in a low mumble. "Well, maybe it's best if you didn't understand." He says to me in a growl, turning an eye to me almost threateningly. "If I was out there right now, I would be able to find her in no time at all and we'd already be gone. We should have never come to this city. This crap was all for nothing."

"What do you—" Bust just as I was about to ask what he meant, I was once again cut off by him as he stands up from his chair and slams a closed fist on the table. "I MEAN THAT I KNOW THAT OSAMU CAN'T HELP KAIYA!" He yells, his voice sounding as of a roar. I nearly leaped out of my seat startled as I got out of my chair to and moved a few steps away from the table. Howl looks at me, and again I could vividly see his eyes show off a dim glow. After taking a few breaths, he closes his eyes and sits back down on the chair looking down on the table as he combs both hands through his strains of white hair. "Your President and explained everything to me." He said to me, in a voice that was contrite. "I had… a feeling, that it would turn out this way. We were fools in believing those rumors."

"If you already thought they could've been fake, why did you come all this way?" I asked him. "Kaiya." He told me, his voice becoming less stern and more hurtful. He sighed deeply as he continues, "All that she ever wanted…was to live a normal life. She never favored her gift to be anything special. When we heard the stories, about the gifted-user that can remove an ability with a touch, she thought that maybe this would have been her chance to have a normal life. She wanted me to come with her, and I knew that I couldn't let her come here alone." My chest slightly tightening. "You really care about her don't you?" I asked. "I do." He replies, a sad smile appearing on his face, similar to the one he gave Kaiya from earlier. "Very much."

"Then if you care about her, do you really think that what you're doing right now will make things any better than what they already are now?" I ask him, feeling my heart beating at a strong pace. Howl was about to snap something back at me in response, but I cut him off as I continued pressing on without thinking it through. "Do you think that by sitting here, you think everything's gonna turn out okay because you think you're doing the right thing? Kaiya is out there on her own, probably scared because of what has happened. Some of us think that the explosion was her fault while few believe that it was all just a misunderstanding. With Kaiya running away and with you refusing to tell us anything, you're only making us further assume that she really _was_ the culprit. Although you think that we are the enemy, remember the Port Mafia agents looking for her all over the city and ask yourself again if this is going to help Kaiya."

I give out a rough sigh as I finished, I sounded as if I had run a marathon. Howl looks at me with an astonished look on his face, his eyes widened and astounded. He looks away from me as we once again fall under still silence. We were like that for a few minutes, and I slowly started thinking that I made a very big mistake with my outburst. I was way out of line, and I had let my emotions get in the way of my questioning. I couldn't stop the words that came. "Do you think that she did it?" Howl then asks, looking at me through the strains of his white hair that dropped over his right eye. It felt as if he was asking me what I was thinking about the entire time about Kaiya. "I don't think she did." My lips moved on their own and I replied, but only just hesitantly. "How do you know?"

A moment of silence passes as I was in deep thought, and asking myself the same question. After the short period of time I've spend knowing Kaiya in person and after what I'd come to learn from the intel from Junichiro, I honestly still had no idea what to think or what I should believe. Was this really all a misunderstanding, or is Kaiya someone who was dangerous, and maybe someone I shouldn't trust? I looked through Howl's steel cold eyes and finally answered. "I don't really know. I mean— I don't have a straightforward reason as to why I believe she is innocent, but they're also isn't any evidence that she caused the explosion, plus what would be her motive for doing so after waiting for so long to see Dazai. I don't know if it because I relate to her in some way or because I pity her for all she went through with losing her parents, but I think the only other reason I would have for thinking this… Is because I genuinely think that she's not that kind of person. But even if there wasn't a reason at all, I still think that she would need to explain her side of the story before we could assume that she is to blame for what happened."

I finish, and we once again went back into a moment of silence. I turned my head to the wall and away from the observant stare Howl gave me, thinking that my answer was probably not satisfying for him to believe. However, after a minute, he finally responds. "**_7 questions_**." He saids bluntly. Confused and stunned, I look back at him just as he turns his eyes away from me to the wall where I was looking to. "I'll answer only _7 questions_, so pick carefully. Got it?" I quickly nodded, and sat back down in my seat, feeling almost a little eager. A part of me thought it would be wise to wait for Kunikida to come, but another part of me was impatient and was just wanting to know more about Kaiya out of curiosity.

However, I had to pick my questions carefully, just like how he warned me. I assumed that he would be careful of answering his questions without giving too much away, so I had to be more specific with my questions and hopefully get more detail out from his answers. I decided to keep track of each question as I asked along. The first question I had come to mind, was the very first thing I wanted to know.

**_First Question._** "Can you tell me why her profile claims that she is… _deceased_?" I hesitantly asked, swallowing a small lump in my throat. "It's because they _thought_ she was dead." He replies to me, his voice low and straightforward as his blue eyes look into mine. "No one ever thought to look for her body after the fire cleared down." **_Second Question._** "If Kaiya wasn't adopted, then can you explain how you both met?" I then asked. Howl nods. "Two years ago after Kaiya's parents died in a car accident, she was transferred into the system." He explains, "At that time… I was living on the streets after losing my job and getting kicked out of my house. I had to make a new home in an abandoned warehouse out of nothing, and find small jobs every day that would earn me a little money so I could buy food." He sighs before continuing. "One day when I was walking around the neighborhood, I found her alone, cold, and starving from days without food or water. I took care of her till she was back to health. She told me everything about her parents and the fire. I was gonna maybe find a police station to bring her to or tell her to just go back, but in tears, she urged me to let her stay."

"Why?" I asked, the question came out of the mouth without me even thinking, and I was compelled to know. "Because _she_ was the one who started the fire." From the door, Kunikida walks in back into the room and saids this as if on cue. He looks past me and straight at Mr. Miyazaki with a serious expression that only showed a small bit of empathy. "Didn't she?" **_Third Question. _**"It was an accident…" Howl's stoned face that he gave Kunikida faded into a wounded expression as if what Kunikida was inquiring was partly true. "She told me that the other kids at the home bullied her ever since she got there, and the staff did nothing about it to help her or stop them. On the night of the fire, they ganged up on her. They hit her, kicked her, all while she screamed for them to stop. Then her ability acted up, and things immediately went out of control. She didn't know how it happened, but the next thing she knew, the home was on flames and was burning down to ashes. She was afraid of hurting everyone else if she continued to stay there, and after I found her, she's lived with me since." I was flabbergasted about what I was hearing. I never would have imagined that Kaiya was living that kind of life. _Growing up on the streets? Running away?_ When I think about things like that, I probably would have done the same thing if I was still living at my old orphanage today. Howl's eyes averted mine in remorse, and my chest tightens as I felt sympathy for both him and Kaiya.

"So for the past year, everyone thought that Kaiya died in the fire when really she was still alive after all." Kunikida stated, clarifying only a little of what was explained. It was like he was only listening to half of the story. He continues, "I don't get it though if it all _was_ an accident, why didn't you both just go to the police and try explaining it to them?" **_Fourth Question. _**"You think we didn't try that." Howl grumbles as he shakes his head. "When I first brought the idea up, Kaiya was still scared that she would hurt anyone that tried coming too close to her, so she refused. At one point in time, we decided to give it a try, but her ability started acting up halfway and we couldn't afford to cause a scene in a public setting. Since Kaiya didn't know how to properly control her gift, people who've probably assumed that she was using it recklessly and I was afraid of her getting looked the wrong way. The only thing that we thought we could do was to try and find some kind of way to control or erase her ability."

**_Fifth Question. _**"Did you at least figure out why her ability would act up like that?" Kunikida asked. "More or less," Howl mutters in response, tilting his head left to right. "After she started living with me, we both practicing in abandoned parks, old train tunnels, and warehouses, to see if she can try controlling her ability. The attempts were dangerous and they were always unsuccessful. Around half the time Kaiya would sometimes lose control and afterward, she would spend hours refusing to do it try it again. Though we didn't make much progress in controlling her ability as we wanted, she was able to control only a little of her gift that was not too risky to manage. I realized that the more she was afraid of her ability, the more stronger and dangerous it was to control. To put it more simple words, her gift is conducted by her emotions, or whether she is in a state of fear, sadness, and maybe even anger."

_Then if her ability is triggered emotions like fear, does that mean she was scared around the time when she was with me or Ranpo? _I coughed to clear my throat as I then asked him, "If you don't mind, I would like to ask a question about her ability." He nods in approval of my request. **_Sixth Question._ **"Be honest with me. From what you've told us, is Kaiya's ability really as dangerous as you say?" Howl hesitates at my question for a moment, but he answers, his voice sounding grave. "Her ability is not dangerous, but it appears to be like that even though we know very little about it." His response was not very accurate to the answer I was hoping for. We only had one more question left remaining. If Kaiya can't properly control her gift could that have meant that she was the culprit who starts the explosion? But could have either been an accident, or deliberate?

I would have asked him to give a more detailed answer about Kaiya's gift, but I thought that we may haft to use the last question for something more important. It was a tough call to make still. Him finally answering some of our questions with this arrangement was somehow manageable and we were making remarkable progress with what Howl had told us. "Although we gradually appreciate you confessing to everything about Kaiya," Kunikida then said abruptly, eyeing Howl with an intimidating and suspicious look. "we still need to discuss another topic on the case. The case about _you_."

I turn to Kunikida with a questionable glance. "The call from Junichiro." He saids to me, "He told me that though there were able to find some intel on Kaiya when we asked for Mr. Miyazaki's profile, they said that they weren't able to find any. No job records, no license, no medical degree, not even any citizen certificates under his name or description in their database." He looks back to Howl. "As far as the Special Operations Division is sure of, '_Howl Miyazaki' _doesn't exist." I look at Howl, who only turns his head away from me with a scornful look on his face. Kunikida walks to him as he places a hand on the table beside him. "I believe you owe us one last question." He saids to him intimidatingly, as he leans towards his face. "I'll ask you this once, who are you _really_?" **_Seventh Question._**

Silence filled the room as my thoughts froze, waiting for what kind of answer Howl would give us. However, just as his mouth opened and he was about to speak, a loud ringtone abruptly goes off. It was coming from Kunikida's pocket. I thought at first it might have been his phone again, but the ringtone that was resinating sounded different from the one I heard earlier. "Is that my phone?" Howl asks leaning his head to look at Kunikida's pocket, then to him with a glare. Ignoring his question and his glare, Kunikida pulls out a phone, a light blue one that wasn't his which was his. He flips it open with a finger as his eyes scan the screen. "It's _her_." He tells us, holding the phone out to show us. The screen read; **_'Kaiya.' _**

"Please, let me talk to her." Howl pleaded, raising out of his chair and to his feet as he places both of his hands on the table. "Your request is denied," Kunikida said, putting a hand on his shoulder and pushing him back down in his seat. "You're still under questioning. Atsushi, you answer it." As he said this, he tosses the phone to me and I barely catch just as it nearly slips from my hands. I pressed to answer, and I held the phone up to my ear, where on the other end I could hear the sound of heavy panting. "Kaiya?"

"_A-Atsushi!_" I hear Kaiya speak into the phone, her voice stuttered, sounding as if she was frightened by something. Even though she had only said my name, I immediately start to feel small hairs rise from the back of my neck. "_I need your help, I-I'm being chased by— …*beeep*…_" The phone goes silent and I no longer hear her voice. "Kaiya?" I speak into the phone expecting her to respond. "Kaiya?!" Hearing no reply, I spoke in a little louder, but the phone was dead silent. I hang up the phone and I see Kunikida standing beside next to Howl, who looks at me with distress. "What happened?" He demanded with a breathless tone. "I'm not sure," I replied. "She picked up, but then the call disconnected." Kunikida suggested, "Try calling her again." But I was already dialing her contact and pressing the call button again and then placed the phone to my ear. I waited for the other end to answer, as I could hear it continues to ring, and I began feeling as if something bad had happened to Kaiya. I finally hear the call answer on the receiver's end, but I stopped mid short from saying her name as I hear a different voice speak through the phone._"The person you are trying to call is currently unavailable. Please leave a message after the 'beep' or try calling again later…*beeep!*…" _I hung up the phone as I slowly lowered the phone from my ear and turn to Kunikida and Howl. "…Nothing." I told them. "It was sent to voicemail." I felt my voice shaking at that last part before I had stopped speaking. **_Something was wrong. _**

"What is it?" Kunikida asked, instantly noticing my hands tremble as one of them grips around the phone that were still in my hand. I told them both what I heard, my voice shaking with an unwanted quaver. "She told me that she was being _chased_…I think she was—" Just then, a very loud and forceful knock pounded against the door. I felt my heart skipped a few beats. _Geez, again? _"Come in." Kunikida calls to the door. It opens, and Yosano, who was looking more well-rested than when I saw her in the last hour stood by the door's frame. "Guess who just walked in?" She asked us almost as if it were a rhetorical question. However, before anyone could answer, a familiar voice called out to us from in the hallway. "Hey, Kunikida~!" Yosano, moving aside from the door and opening it widely for all to see enters Dazai, staggering into the room almost stumbling just as Yosano catches him. He looked as if he were drunk senseless. "Sorry that I'm late~!" He wails, waving his arm at the three of us.

As if like a kettle that bursts, Kunikida briskly storm over to Dazai with heavy steps, and takes ahold of him by his shirt collar, shaking him hard and yelling madly in his ear. "**WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A CRISIS, AND YOU FINALLY SHOW UP ****_NOW_****?!**" He said a couple of other cursive things, but I ignored it while sighing to myself. '_I should have seen this coming.' _I glance at Howl, who is just sitting there with his eyes widened, and it was obvious that he was surprised by watching this, but maybe even a little confused. Taking in a long breath when he was finished, Kunikda blasted into Dazai's ear again with more rage in his voice, "**WHERE IN THE HELL WERE YOU ALL DAY?!**"

"What do you mean~?" He asked Kunikida, his voice sounding dopey and his eyes widening with insanity. "I've been here the entire time~." Me and Kunikida look at Yosano, who gives us an annoyed look as she responds. "I found him while passing the storage room. His feet were tied together and he was hanging upside down from the ceiling." She explained. "I think the man may have lost some brain cells. He told me that he did it himself, and he also said something about, _'reaching enlightenment'?_ I don't know." She shrugs her shoulders as Kunikida looks back to Dazai, still not quite getting the entire picture.

Dazai then tells us with a goofy smile, "You see, last night I was experimenting with a new _SUICIDE TECHNIQUE_!" He explains this, sounding like the whole ordeal was fun, like a kid waking up on Christmas morning. "Hanging upside-down can deplete lungs of their oxygen whilst the blood from my body redirects itself to my brAIN—" Before he could even finish his sentence, Kunikida was shaking his neck up and down by the collar of his shirt once again. "**YOU THINK I GIVE A DAM ABOUT YOUR ATTEMPTS FOR AN EARLY GRAVE!?**" He yells into his ear as his grip on Dazai's shirt tightened around his fist. "**JUST DO YOUR JOB SO I DON'T HALF TO!**" (_'That's just like them.' I thought.) _"Excuse me?" Howl's voice cut through the constant yelling, and we all turn to him as Kunikida also stops shaking Dazai so as to hear what Howl wanted to say. He continued, "Sir, are you Dazai Osamu?" At the mention of his name, Dazai shot his head out of the limping state Kunikida held him in as he flashed a debonaire smile. "That's my name~" He sang in response before his drunk-like expression changed into a confused blank stare. "I'm sorry, am I suppose to know you?" Kunikida groaned, "No you're not." He let loose of Dazai's shirt collar as he straightened himself back up. "Earlier he and his daughter came to ask for your assistance. To put long stories short, all the events that have transpired and lead up to this moment is entirely **_your fault_**."

"Really?" Dazai looks back at Howl with an astonished glance, _(by now he probably was already out of his absentminded state and was now back to reality.)_ "I am sorry you had to go through all of that trouble to see me." He saids this, approaching Howl as he extends his arm and hands out to him. "Although due to the situation with your daughter missing at hand, as soon as she is found I can help with whatever need you requested me for as soon as this is all settled." He holds his hand out as if waiting for a shake. Howl did lift his hand and was almost about to touch his, but he pulled away as if he just remembered something that he wasn't supposed to do. "Um, thank you." He mumbles, but only just loud enough for the three of us to hear. "Your offer is appreciated, but I don't think we will no longer be asking for your services at this point." Dazai mildly reacts at Howl's response with confusion written on his face. "Dazai, we need to talk a moment." From behind Dazai, standing at the door, I see Yosano whispering something to Kunikida just before he called Dazai over to leave. He follows Yosano out the door and Kunikida turns to me. "You as well Atsushi." He adds turning his eyes to Howl and gives him a final glare before I exit the room with him following behind me. We only walk into the next room which was a recording station for the interview room Howl sat in. It only had a few chairs, a table full of taping equipment and monitors, and also a dark tinted window that looked into the room where Howl sat on the table looking on the table almost downhearted.

"We got word from the search teams," Yosano tells us, as Kunikida closes the door behind me, Dazai sits himself down in a vacant chair beside Yosano as she continues. "They say that they still haven't found her yet. We heard that in the nearby market district, some people claimed that they saw a girl matching Kaiya's description run out onto the street and nearly got hit by a truck. She wasn't hurt, but afterward, she ran away towards the port. We sent the teams out there to look, but so far they turned up with nothing. It's almost as she disappears from the face of the city." Kunikida and I exchanged knowing looks before he turns back to Yosano. "It's funny that you bring that up." He saids, "We think something may have happened to her."

"How do you know?" Dazai _(who has by now has gotten a hold of his senses)_ asks, turning his eyes from Kunikida's to mine. Straightaway, we told them about what Howl has told us in the interview and also the call that came in from Kaiya. How she sounded scared, mentioned being '_chased_' by someone, and how she didn't respond when we tried calling her back. Yosano for some reason thought that she may have deliberately cut off the call as to make us assume she was in trouble, or that she was only trying to get them off her trail by getting rid of her phone. "I was afraid it wouldn't come to this," Kunikida said to Yosano and us as he leans himself against the wall by the dark window into the next room. "but we may need to assume the worst of the situation. Kaiya has been missing for 3 hours, with no signs of her being found, and with the report you've told us, we can only estimate that the Port Mafia has abducted her in their custody." Like Yosano, I didn't want to believe the fact either. The way Kaiya spoke through the phone, her voice trembling with beseech and the way the call cuts off has **'_help' _**written all over it.

"Hang on though," Dazai spoke up to Kunikida, canceling me from my thoughts. "I know it's a little late to ask, but since when did you knew that Mr. Miyazaki had a phone?" I and Yosano turn to Kunikida _(as we slightly wondered the same thing.)_ "I had it on me before we started the interrogation." Kunikida explained, "After the meeting ended, I went through his belonging and found that he had a phone with him. I looked through it and I was able to find Kaiya's contact. I tried calling, and she didn't answer, so I left a voice message telling her to come back to the agency. I thought that holding onto the phone would be a good idea in case she called back, so I had it on me." Yosano looked at him in disbelief. "And you didn't bother bringing that up til now?" She asked, her eyes narrowing with annoyance. "At the time we were in a hurry and I didn't think you knowing about it would be relevant." He replied bluntly. Yosano's face disfigured into a pissed expression and almost looked as if she was about to lunge at Kunikida. Then Dazai stopped her mid short, just as she was about to take a foot forward. He asks, "Just asking out of curiosity; in the message, what did you say exactly? No details left out please." A mischievous smirk was plastered on his face as he added to that last bit. I could tell what Dazai was thinking. He thought that Kunikida may have probably said something to Kaiya that might have made her **_not_** want to come back instead of the opposite. But Kunikida wouldn't do something like that. Sure he's… but he wouldn't say… _('…Would he?') _

Kunikida clears his throat as he explains, "I told her that for her own safety she needed to come back to the agency." He then stopped for a moment, so I assumed that that was it, but he continued, "I also told her that due to the situation, she could be a danger to public safety if she wouldn't come back and that Mr. Miyazaki would be in our custody until she did." The room then went silent. The tension in the air around us literally screamed _'Is he for real?'. _I didn't know if I was the only person thinking this, but it was as if Kunikida was that unbelievably oblivious. He looks to each of us with a confused look. "What is it?" _('Oh god, he's serious.') _"Um, Kunikida." I then began, trying to find the right words so as to put it down. "Don't you think saying that part about _'her being a danger to the pubic'_ would have been a little too… _straightforward_?" He raises an eyebrow. "I don't follow." He replied, he looked confusingly honest with his answer, and I was stunned. Although I knew very well he would take things very serious with work, I was hoping that he wouldn't speak so professionally and at Kaiya and to not sound accusing towards her saying that she was the culprit at fault for the incident.

"You are **_oblivious_**," Yosano mutters, putting a hand over her face. "Now we know for certain;_ you are terrible with kids._"

"_Teenagers_ especially," Dazai adds, a playful smirk slightly spreading into a little wider.

Just as Kunikida was about to say something back at Dazai's comment, there came a knock on the door. Yosano, who was the closest, opened the door wide for us all to see, and I could hear all our breaths seize as our eyes widened in astonishment. "Ranpo!" I exclaimed without thinking. "Your awake!" Standing in front of the door, barefoot whilst leaning against a single crutch, was Ranpo, wearing his brown hat and still in the blue hospital robe. Although there didn't appear to be anything wrong with any of his legs, he could've been using the crutch to help him move around since he was lying in bed for several hours and could barely walk.

Ranpo then give me an annoyed frown, looking at me as if I had said something offensive _(or most likely in his word; 'something stupid.') _"Well, I'm not dead if that's what you're implying." He said to me in a distasteful tone as he struggles to walk into the room with his crutch holding him up. _Yep, that's Ranpo alright._ I let out a sigh of relief. At this point, I didn't even care what kind of remark he gave me. I was only glad that he was alright. "What are you doing?" Yosano then said, rushing to him just as he almost stumbled, but luckily manages to gain his balance. "I told you to stay in bed. You're not cleared to walk around yet." Ranpo clicked his tongue turning his head away from her arrogantly in response. "And when by chance were you going to tell us that he was awake?" Kunikida asks Yosano, crossing his arms on his chest while giving her a serious glare. "Well it's not like the news slipped my mind," she replies in a mumbled. "Before running into Dazai in the storage room, I was on my way to tell you both. He only _just_ woke up and he could barely walk, so I told him to stay in the infirmary while I went to get you guys." She then turns to Ranpo. "Anyway, as I said, you shouldn't be up in the condition you're in. You need to return to the infirmary for a proper examination."

"Hold on," Kunikida then exclaimed, stopping Yosano just as she grabbed ahold of Ranpo's robes sleeve and pulled him towards the door. "Ranpo was the last person to see Kaiya before the explosion. He is a key witness who knows what happened, so he may know something." Seeing Kunikida's point, Yosano realized Ranpo as he shrugged her off his shoulder. "Tell us what you know." Kunikida told him. "Kaiya is innocent." Ranpo saids in a low voice after a few moments as his eyes didn't have contact with his. "The explosion wasn't her fault, but…" Ranpo's voice trails off just as his eyes and head turned to the tinted window, and look straight at Howl direction. "What did he tell you?" He asks Kunikida, not taking his eyes off the window. Without questioning or hesitation Kunikida told him informality, "Only a few things. It turns out he didn't adopt her from the orphanage. We found out that Kaiya runaway after she had burned down two years ago due to losing control of her ability. She doesn't have Tuberculosis like we though, and although we were able to get some decent information off of Mr. Miyazaki, there are still other areas that we failed to talk over with him, like Kaiya's no-existing birth certificates. Not to mention we still haven't gone to figure out why we weren't able to find any known records on Mr. Miyazaki either."

Kunikida told Ranpo about everything else that went on in the interview and handed him the folder. Ranpo still didn't remove his eyes away from Howl without batting an eye, and it was hard to tell if he was listening to a word Kunikida had said. To me, it was strange and almost scary, I've never seen Ranpo act like this before. Never have I ever seen him so focus or his face so dark. Was there something about Howl that saw but I didn't? After Kunikida finished, without turning to any of us, as his eyes were still fixated on Howl, Ranpo saids in a serious tone, "Let me in to speak with him." Kunikida, Yosano, and I didn't exchange looks, but I could tell that all our eyes were wide with aghast and our jaws slightly open while Dazai, who was only standing a little aways besides me, didn't show much of a reaction at all. His face was mutually serious as he stared straight at Ranpo and asked in a deep voice, "Can you tell us your reason?"

"I know why he's lying to us," Ranpo replies to him in a mumble. "Before the explosion occurred, I used my _Ultra-Deduction_, and I saw… things. Bits and pieces of a life Kaiya had forgotten. Kaiya is not the culprit, she's the victim, not me. The reason why Kaiya is unable to control her gift is that she is not the one pulling her own strings. I know that I'm not making much sense explaining this, but I need you all to trust my instincts on this. The only way that we can find out what we are dealing with, is if you let me in with him." Kunikida was about to protest to his request, but was stopped by Dazai, who places a bandaged hand on his shoulder as he slowly shakes his head and wearing a serious frown. It was if he was saying that he— or any of us shouldn't question Ranpo's choice. Kunikida withdrew from what he was going to say as he shrugged it off, and Yosano, who also saw Dazai's memo to Kunikida, stood there silently. "Atsushi, help me out." He orders as he slowly staggers and skids towards the door with his crutch as I quickly walked to the door. Dazai, Yosano, and Kunikida only stood there silently as the three of them watch us leave the room. _(I didn't know why me, but I guess Ranpo needed someone to open the doors since both of his arms were already occupied with trying to hold onto his crutch.)_ We entered the interview room, and as Howl looked up at us, his face widens in shock as he sees Ranpo enter in his robe and crutch. "Are… you the one who was with Kaiya?" He asked. Ranpo didn't reply to his questions, nor did he even look him in the eye as I helped Ranpo into the chair and put his crutch against the side of the table. With him no longer fixing his eyes at Howl as he did in the next room, I found it a little odd. Howl's face turns to dismay and I feel a little mad at Ranpo for not being polite in answering, although I could kinda guess he wouldn't want to speak because of what happened between him and Kaiya.

I sit in the chair beside Ranpo, and as if trying to not waste any time, Howl starts speaking, almost shouting the words at Ranpo as he looks at him with cold eyes. "If you're here to talk about what happened, then on her behalf, I am truly sorry for what you've gone through." He then bows his head to Ranpo apologetically as he continues. "I understand if you don't accept the apology, but please know that whatever Kaiya may have done was accidental and was not wrongful intended on you." Silence falls upon the room and Ranpo saids nothing in response, only looks down at Howl with a blank expression. I wish I could tell you what was happening in his brain, but like Yosano, I've known Ranpo for a really long time, and I knew him well enough to know, that he would treat any investigation as if it were some kind of game to him. After using his _Ultra-Deduction_, instead of revealing what he knows, he would toy the culprit, until they unwillingly confess or break down while trying not to. Not once has Ranpo failed to solve a case without making the other person submit to him first. I suddenly see a small mischievous smirk slowly rises from the corner of Ranpo's mouth, and I hear a small snicker in his voice as he saids this in a cold-hearted tone, **_"Wow, you're a very convincing actor." _**

I look at him shockingly with wide eyes as Howl lifts his head to Ranpo with a startled and conflicted look on his face. "I'm sorry?" He asks, as if not sure that he heard what Ranpo said. "Gee, you really are like Kaiya." Ranpo continued with a carefree expression, as if not hearing Howl's question. "I told her the same thing I told you, and she looked at me like as if I told her the world was gonna end." I couldn't keep my eyes of Ranpo as he was the only one laughing at his own joke of it all. I wanted to hit him hard on the head, I can't believe what he was saying to him right now. "**_Are you saying that I'm lying to you_**?" I hear Howl then asks in a low growl like a grumble. I turn from Ranpo to see his face, and I freeze as his expression changed to a threatening glare, as if giving the warning to watch what we say. Ranpo also saw this too, and his eyes gleamed with amusement. "Well, that was the last thing I was trying **_not_** to say." He saids as he flashes a knowing smile. "However, I am only just clarifying that you are twisting the truth with us and not revealing what's behind the door you're hiding."

"In the interview, you said that due to Kaiya's sickness, she could never fully control her ability, right? Kunikida told me that you claimed that you make your own medicine, but since you both are dirt poor, I could only imagine the amount of money one would need to buy antibiotics. At first, I thought that the sickness could've been a lie to throw us off considering the non-existing hospital records, but with the bacterial infection that was found in her blood that we collected from the scene at the café, we are for certain that Kaiya didn't get hurt, so she_ had_ to be sick. But not with Tuberculosis, no, it's something else, isn't it?" Howl's eyes narrow at Ranpo, and he looked as if he was struggling to think of something to say to cut him off. "That's—" But just as he spoke, Ranpo then cuts Howl off instead. "There's also another thing too. You told us that Kaiya's ability, quote-on-quote, _"appears to be dangerous."_ But before that, you made it perfectly accurate that her gift is indeed dangerous, even for others to be around, and yet you say it _'_**_appears_**_' _to be dangerous_._ In that context, it almost seems as if you already know more about her ability than you appeared to have explained to us." I couldn't make sense of all of what I was hearing, but I could see what points he made and how all the facts that we were missing were coming together. A bead of sweat trickled from Howl's brow as he could barely get in a word to defend himself before Ranpo had cut him off again and continues.

"There's also the case on the accident from 2 years ago," I look at Ranpo startled, and I also see Howl's eyes perk up as if this was something he didn't expect to be brought up. "Now normally, people would have seen this as just an ordinary **_tragic accident_** right? However, when looking further into Kaiya's previous records from her belated family, the application date for her certificate was only verified since a year ago before their accident took place. This means Kaiya's known existence in Japan wasn't filed until only 5 years ago in 2016, not 2004. The people who were filed down and claimed to be Kaiya's legal parents had no marriage certificate or any hospital records of ever giving birth to a child. Their background profiles show that they were not ever her true biological parents. They were able to make a fake record and birth certificate without anyone knowing, was because they were both gifted users. One with the ability to manipulate technology and one to manipulate memories of others. The reason why Kaiya thought those people were her parents, was because her memories were erased and replaced on the same night of the accident just before they died."

"Which leaves me to my conclusion to _you_. You knew all along about Kaiya's accident, didn't you? Even before she told you about it, and you didn't know why. However, after spending the past two years with Kaiya and learning about her gift, you knew why her memories of her ability were erased, and why thought she thought she was just normal. You refused on wanting to come to Yokohama because you knew what could happen, and the only reason _why_ you wouldn't tell Kaiya about her gift or her memories is that you don't want her finding out the truth that you are so desperately trying to hide from her, and not admit to yourself." My mind puzzles with Ranpo's unbelievable discoveries of these turn of events, Howl's eyes widened with freezing fear as if he was reminded of a horrific memory that he didn't want to remember but wish he had forgotten. But even as he noticed Howl's fearful expression, he continued on, his voice narrating. "On that day, she was lying cold on the streets and nearly verge of death. She thought she was gonna die, and she only wanted one thing."

"_Stop_." I could hear Howl's voice in a whisper, but Ranpo still continued on not minding or listening to him. "She could've wanted or wished for food, water, blankets. She could've wished for her parents to come back from the dead, even if she couldn't remember their faces."

"**_Stop_**." Howl's voice began to sound louder as it somehow choked him to speak. Ranpo kept going, "The only thing she wanted, was to have a friend to love and remember her if she was ever forgotten."

_"_**_I SAID STOP!_**_"_ Screaming at the top of his lungs, Ranpo finally spoked as he pleaded, and after only a brief moment of him taking in heavy panting, his voice cracks as he silently broke down and tears streamed down as he buried his hands into his face. "_Please… stop…_" he whispers, his words cracking as he struggles to speak. I am surprised, as well as remorseful towards him. Ranpo was merciless, he had Howl right where he wanted, and he had won. Ranpo spoke over Howl's sobs as he didn't care if his words were being heartless to hear "You can try to hide the truth all you want, and you can continue lying if you think it might do any good, but know that I could keep on piling the facts for hours. If you want this to stop, there are only 2 ways to end this, and only you could decide which one gets to play out." Reaching into the pocket of his robe, he then pulls out a familiar pair of glasses and folds them out as he places them on and stares at Howl bitterly through one of its cracked lenses as his smile turns spiteful. "Either I tell everyone what I know, or you can be the one to tell us why Kaiya's life _could_ mean the end of the world. What's it gonna be?"

**END OF CHAPTER**

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Okay, I may have written a bit too much, considering I worked on the rest of this for the past 2 months.

I'm sorry if this is too much of a read for you, but I wanted to try and make this chapter more intensive and real to seem like a real interrogation in the ADA's own way. Anyway, for the net two months or so I wil be taking a break from Girl Who Wanted No Gift so I can work on another Bungou Stray Dogs short story while also try set up Chapter 7 and the final chapter of Part 1 - Ability.

Again, sorry this took so long, but I hoped you enjoyed it a little. (I had to make very good reasons and theroies and scenarios in this, because I tried sounding more like a genius detective and manipulative schemer like Ranpo was.)

Look out for my next post in October! Later!


	8. Chapter 7 (End of Part 1)

**Disclaimer:**

**For all of you readers who have been following this book, I am letting you all know that I've now decided to separate this fanfic into 3 separate books instead of putting all of the chapters in one massive blob and a****lso the Prologue and Chapter One will now be a combined page. ****_(From that, I have renamed the title by adding "Part 1", so it's still the same book don't worry. ;) )_ **

**Thank you all for your love and support to keep on reading this story!**

**So with that out of the way, let's get on to the final chapter of Part 1! _(Warning: Excuse the cursive language I have added in this final chapter from Chūya.)_**

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**Chapter 7**

Kaiya's POV

"Alright, prepare the procedure." I'm in a small white room, strapped to a silver chair by leather restraints that burn my skin. Around me were machines that were connected with wires and hooked up to monitors and I wore a white hospital gown while my brunette hair is wildly long down to my waist. Surrounding me was a small crowd of five men and women in white lab coats. All of them were walking around the room, checking the monitors and a few would give me cold glances every time they walked by me. I was scared, I could barely move my body in the leather restraints and I felt as if my mouth forbid me from screaming even though it wasn't covered. I didn't know where I was? Who were these people? Why was I here? The men and woman in coats continued walking around and pass me to each monitor for quite some time, only until there came in a man. Like the rest of the people in the room, he two wore a white lab coat, his head was bald and he wore black thick-rimmed glasses that surrounded his sharp silver eyes.

The men and woman around the monitors stop to watch him approach and even some I saw left the room in a bit of a hurry. He sits down on a silver stool on the left side of me and I could see him putting down a white briefcase on top of a side table. I see him clicks both its locks and opens it wide, the contents inside were both a syringe needle and a thin vile of some kind of black liquid. Only before I turning away, his eyes made brief contact with mine as he notices me eyeing the case. He begins preparing the syringe and just as he had it in place, he gives me a smile that looked none genuine as he then tells me, _"Don't worry, this will only hurt a bit."_ The look I saw in his eyes was cold and cruel, it gave me goosebumps. I started struggling to pull my arms out to push him, but only until he abruptly placed his hand on my throat and grasped it tightly while telling me to stop resisting. I immediately lost strength in my arms to try and as I see the syringe slowly inch closer to my chest, where he was aiming for, I felt tears picking out from the corners of my eyes. I shut them tightly closed, knowing that what would happen next would **_not_** hurt a bit. However, after a few moments, I didn't feel anything and as then slowly opened my eyes, I suddenly found myself somewhere else. I was no longer in the white room and the machines and man were gone. I was sitting in the backseat of a car, wearing a yellow hoodie and dark sweat-shorts instead of a hospital gown, and my hair though not long was still messy and down to my shoulders length.

_"We can't outrun them."_ The voice of a woman speaks up from in front of me and I see two people arguing in the front. I couldn't see what they looked like because of how the beams of the headlights brightened up the front of the car and cast a shadow on them both, but I was able to make out a man in the driver seat on the right-hand side of the car. _"We got to try."_ He argued back into the woman, who sat in the passenger seat in a deep serious tone. _"If we get caught, our promise to her and Daito would've been for nothing."_ The car begins to pass by a few lampposts on the sides of the highway road we were on, and I could see their faces more clearly. The man was tall with a broad built and had dark wavy hair, while the woman in the passenger seat had long black hair and wore red-rimmed glasses.

I didn't know what was going on, I didn't know where I was nor I didn't recognise who these people were. Not once did either of them turned or spoke to me, just as my eyes look up at the rearview mirror, I could see the man looking back at me. I felt my heart skip a beat, but only just for a moment before his eyes turned soft. "_Don't worry Kaiya,_" he said to me, in a more calm and kinder voice than when he was talking to the woman. "_We're not fighting. We just got into a bit of a disagreement._" The way he spoke to me was almost like he was talking to a child. His eyes were the colour pale blue and they looked into mine as if he was trying to assure me that nothing bad was going on. It made me feel like he was struggling to hold a reassuring smile to tell me that all was alright. I caught a glimpse of the woman eyeing me from the side-view mirror from the window next to me. Her dark hazel eyes looked at me almost in the same way the man did, but at the same time, they also looked regretful. She averts her eyes from mine as she turns back to the man and tries again to argue with him. _"Yuki we— LOOK OUT!"_ I saw her eyes narrow from the man to his window, as her eyes then grew wide with fear. I looked in the same direction, but all that I could see was a flash of bright white light that was rocketing towards the car.

My mind blacked out for a few minutes before I then found myself lying on the side of the road in a patch of grass. As I sat up, I see a car that was flipped over across the road in front of me while shards of glass, fragments, and pieces of the vehicle scattered around as it was engulfed into flames and was blazing brightly. I was frightened and confused. _Was that the car I was in? How did it— That light we saw, what was it? Were we hit by another car? _My body felt a little numb, it was heavy to try to move and my eyes were more fixed on the car while it continued blazing and the sky is polluted with the smell of ash. "_Yuna! Yuna can you hear me?!" _The familiar voice of the man— _"Yuki"_, sounding very distressed came into my earshot. As I turned my head in the direction of his voice, I saw him a few feet away in a crouching position with his back turned to me and leaning over the body of a woman. He screams at her to wake up while also shaking her shoulders and loudly sobbing. A disturbing thought came to my mind as I realise who the body might be. '_Was that the woman? Was she okay, is she hurt? Why isn't she waking up?'_

_"Kaiya!"_ Yuki, noticing that I was looking his way, whips his head in my direction, a scared expression was over his face with his eyes wide with worry and alarm. As he stands up from his crouch and quickly comes up to meet me, my eyes drift to the body of the woman—_"Yuna"._ Only as I had a clear view of her still body, Yuki block my view of her as he crouches down in front of me to my height. Even as I try to look behind him or over his shoulder, he would move in all my directions so that I wouldn't be able to see her. _"No, no— don't look, she's okay! Just look at me, alright?"_ At once, I didn't believe him. I knew that she wasn't okay, but I still obeyed and my eyes were looking solely on his face that was covered in dirt, a line of dried up blood on the side of his face that came from his ear, and his eyes were filled with dread and were very puffy like he had been crying.

_"Kaiya, listen to me." _Yuki then places both of his hands on my arms and squeezes them tightly, almost hurting me and this at once grabs my attention, I couldn't take my eyes away from his._ "No matter what happens, promise me that you won't use your ability. You must never use it ever again, do you understand?! Kaiya, if you understand promise me!"_ I didn't know what he was talking about, but I didn't listen to what he said though. As his voice began to sound enraged and his eyes looked widely at me in desperation, I couldn't help myself to nod to him almost petrified as I slightly trembled. As if seeing the fear in me and realising he lost his calm composure, Yuki's fearful expression then softened and he returned to the assuring driver who had spoken to me before as he weakly forces a small smile. _"…Good girl." _He whispers, placing a warm hand over my cheek and he caresses it softly with his thumb. Though I flinched at his first touch, immediately I lean into it and I could feet my eyes closed unconsciously.

In my mind, for some reason, I knew he was trying to act as if everything was alright, even though he could barely hold a smile to assure me. My heart slightly tightened, I wanted to cry for him. But although til I meet him and I didn't know who he was nor the woman Yuna, I felt that there was something about their voices and his touch that seemed _familiar. _It was similar to the reaction and feeling when you recognise a type of scent that makes you wonder if you smelled it before. _Why does his touch feel so comforting? So safe and peaceful? But also…why so lonely too? "I'm sorry Kaiya." _I open my eyes to Yuki's, who's voice then sounded broke and apologetic. The touch of his hand shifting over my eyes and forehead and a bright white light blinded my vision. The sounds of the fire from the burning car and Yuki's voice are drowned as I fall into a deep sleep and my mind feels light and becomes… **_empty_**.

Then as immediately as it started, my eyes were open and I was now in a different place than before now fully wide awake. This time instead of a yellow hoodie and sweat-shorts, I was dressed in my current clothes, a black hoodie, white shirt, and jeans, while my hair was back into a ponytail. I at once recognised my surroundings as the strange dream from before I woke up in the mafia headquarters, however only just a few moments after I realise it, the atmosphere and world around me darkens and everything turns to the colour of a moonless night, making it hard for me to see into the empty distance beyond as if it were almost pitch black.

**_"The time is near…"_** From all around I could hear a faint voice calling to me as if it were an echo. It scared me, but though it sounded as if it weren't human, the sound seemed demonic or monstrous and as I tried turning in every direction to find the source of the voice, there was no sign of anyone here with me but myself.

**_"I am coming…for you." _**Hearing the voice say that as it calls out again, I felt a shiver ran through me and my hair sticks up from the back of my neck and the air around me suddenly becomes dead cold as the voice grows louder like it was only a few steps from me. Not knowing what direction I was going in, I moved forward, hoping that I would walk away from the voice and not blindly walk towards it. However, only just after did I take the first few steps, I suddenly felt myself bump into a wall that almost felt like glass, and when I stepped back a few feet to have a better view of it through the darkness, I had a clear sight of what it was. It was a mirror, or at least that's what I believed it to be. It was just as tall as I was, but it had no post, frame, stand or wall to hold it up against, and it almost looked as if it came up from the floor as it didn't have a solid bottom while it stood up straight on its own. I took a step close to the mirror. At first, I saw nothing, not even my reflection, but only the emptiness and darkness around me as it stared back. I take another step closer. This time as I do, I saw a blurred figure beginning to take a view in front of me from where I was standing. _'Must be my reflection.'_ I thought to myself.

However, just as the blurriness of the mirror became clear, I gasped at the vague image of my reflection. Though the clothes were the same, my dark hair was out of its ponytail and was long and white, I had markings all across my face, down my eyes and neck while my hazel eyes were black with white pupils in the middle, almost shinning like they were pearls. I felt a little scared, but I was also a little intrigued that its strange appearance, and I couldn't take my eyes away from it. It looked exactly like me, but with the white hair and eyes, it kind of looked like I was a different person. I lean forward to touch the glass and my reflection does the same. However only just seconds after, the demonic reflection of me suddenly leaps out through the mirror from the upper body, showing no expression as her cold hands grasp onto my neck and strangle it tightly with her nails digging into my flesh.

It all happened so fast I couldn't have stepped back from her hands or move aside to dodge and I was very terrified about what was happening. The pain from her nails spreader throughout my neck, and it felt like it was on fire as I could barely feel the air come out from my choking gasps. My eyes began to feel heavy, but I fought to keep consciousness, trying to hit and squeeze the other me's wrists for her to let me go before I suffocate. As her dark white-pupil eyes looked deep into mine, a wide sinister and evil grin spreads across her mouth to her cheeks as her eyes grew wide with amusement. She then slowly leans in close to the side of my face, almost brushing my cheek, and I could feel her cold breath on my ear as she then whispers to me in a low demonic voice, **_"Are you ready?" _**_The voice I was hearing was hers._ My breath seized and everything around me fades away into nothingness.

I awoke with a loud gasp, feeling my sore throat let out huge breaths of air as I could feel my heart beating rapidly in my chest. Staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling, it took me a few moments, and the remainder of the thick shock collar around my neck, to remember what had happened earlier and realise I was in the Port Mafia headquarters. After I was left alone in my new room, I cried on the soft bed for sometime before deciding to lie down, and strangely enough, I drifted off to sleep despite the situation and place I am in. Pulling myself out of the blue silk covers of the bed to sit up, through the giant windows in front of me, I saw that it was already dark outside, and raining was pouring down heavily with the faint sound of thunder in the background. "How long was I asleep for?" I mumbled the question to myself. No one responded to my question but the quiet rain around me as it hit the windows. I guess it didn't matter anyway. As I sat up from my bed, my head started to feel a little heavy and it began to ache as my hands slightly trembled when I used one to rub my temples. _'That was I scary dream…' _Soon my head cleared, I slowly got out of bed and after a few minutes of peering through the dim darkness with the light from the window, I was able to find the light switch to the room and I also decided to take a shower to wake myself up and clear my head. Although I was still very sleepy, I didn't want to go back to bed, and I remembered that since there wasn't any food waiting for me when I woke up, it must mean that Chūya hasn't brought me dinner yet. Not thinking about it either, because of how tired I was, I grabbed the white nightgown off the hook on the door before I entered the bathroom.

It was pretty big compared to what I originally thought of it when first seeing the door. Decorated in white tiles, it had the basic things that any other bathroom would have, a sink and mirror, a tub, a rack with a few towels, and a shower in the very back that was big enough to fit three people that was behind a glass screen door. I stared in awe, cause to me it looked glorious and fancy like something in a spa, and compared to the hotel me and Howl stayed in, this was the first time I had been in a proper bathroom since I ran away from the orphanage two years ago. I pull out my hair by the black ribbon kept in place, and take off my clothes, I stepped into the glass shower, making sure that I had the nightgown and a towel near me when I got out. After fiddling around with the shower handles, I was able to turn the water to the right warm temperature. _(And although I couldn't find a way to take off the collar, as I stepped into the water and let it onto it, I didn't feel any shocks or reactions.)_

On a small wired shelf on my right-hand side on the wall, there were large bottles of conditioner, shampoo, and body soap and as I use the shampoo to wash through my scalp, half my mind drifts off somewhere else as I recollect the phenomenal dream that I had. '_Those people… they looked so familiar, but why can't I remember them?'_ Flashbacks of the dream continued to cross my mind as the hot water of the shower-head continued falling on my head and the hot steam rises and covers the glass screen. No matter how hard I tried looking back on them, I couldn't recognise either of them. I soon brushed it off and for the remainder of the time I spent in the shower, I continued cleaning myself up and washing my hair whilst also trying to think of what to do about the _test_ I had to take tomorrow.

_'There's no way that I could ever win.'_ I continually thought this to myself in doubt and worry. _'What if the person I fight is stronger than me, not to mention, what will I do if I can't use my ability to protect myself against them?'_ I cannot control my ability in a way that I can in for offence and I wouldn't be able to defend myself with it either. Though a weapon would probably be my best chance, it probably wouldn't do me any good in winning. After experiencing both Chūya and Akutagawa's gifts in action from when I was taken, I knew that if I couldn't have escaped from them back then, I wouldn't know what I could be able to do in a real fight. Imagining what would happen tomorrow, I picture myself on the ground, defected beneath my unknown opponent who looks down on me, being taken away in iron chains and being forced to do whatever the mafia boss— _Mori_, wanted me to do. The possibilities of what they were were unthinkable to me. The things that I knew for certain, was that I would never see Howl again and would I ever get the chance to meet Dazai, or apologise for hurting Ranpo and running away.

_If I lose, the normal life that I wanted so badly to get… will no longer be obtainable and will be further away from my reach. _Losing the strength in my legs and feeling very small and helpless, I slid down onto the shower floor, with the water falling onto my head above as I slowly began to cry and let out silent sobs._ I didn't know what to do. What could I do? How could I have any hope of making it through now and tomorrow? _

* * *

I step out of the back into the room, now wearing the white nightgown while my hair was put up in a towel and I'm carrying my previous clothes that were bundled up and clamped together in my arms as across the room, the door opens and Chūya steps in, using one hand to turn the knob and open the door while the other was balancing a tray of food. We make eye contact as we both close the doors we went through and gives me an unreadable look as he cringed slightly. "Did you wash up?" he asked with a grumble in his tone. I nodded in response, I felt my heart beating a little anxiously and I just stood there feeling antsy whilst trying not to look directly at his emerald green eyes that brightened in the dim light of the room. At my silent response, he sighs irately as he walks towards the side table and chairs. "I brought you your dinner." he then adds, setting down the tray and taking a seat in one of the furnished chairs as he rests his chin on his hand.

Chūya turns his head to mean and gives me an annoyed look as if he were expecting me to do something, I slowly realised that he was waiting for me to sit on the second chair beside him so that I could eat. Turning my eyes away from his and looking to the floor, I quickly put my clothes on the bed and then hesitantly approached the empty chair across from him. I could feel his eyes staring at me intently as I sat down next to him. I slowly look at the side table that was between us, being cautious not to give him eye contact. Placed on top of the silver tray, was a western-style dish of mashed potatoes, small vegetables, and a giant burger steak right in the very centre of the plate covered in what looked like gravy. The display was mouthwatering, the rich aroma filled my nose and at once I could hear my stomach beginning to rumble with longing for something to eat.

"Hey! You gonna eat it or not?" Chūya then abruptly asked, making me snap out of my gaze on the meal and realising that I had been only staring at my food for a few minutes and not eating. "If it's not to your liking, then you can go to bed without." However before he could lean over and take away my dinner, not wanting to be left hungry, I placed the tray on my lap, grabbed the knife and fork that was also on the tray, and tucked into a piece of the burger steak. My eyes widened in surprise, but also awe from the hot juicy taste of the steak in my mouth. The taste was like nothing I've ever had. It slightly burned my tongue as I ate it quickly, but at the same time, it watered my mouth with delight and satisfaction. I thought that this might have been the only best hot meal I've had in a long time from eating cold take-out food and leftover snack packages on the streets when I was living in Tokyo. "It's good," I mumbled, unable to stop myself from saying it out loud. From beside me, I hear Chūya click his tongue as if to say, _'Well duh, what did you expect?' _

"We aren't monsters." I looked up from my tray to him as he says this scornfully, he still wore the same mean-looking frown he had when I first woke up in the mafia headquarters. "With the time those who took to make this, you better be grateful for the meal at all." So I then continued, eating the big juicy burger steak while also taking in small servings of the mash potatoes and vegetables. Around halfway through the meal, though I tried not to pay much attention to it, I would take a few sidewards glances towards Chūya's injured hand. The layer of bandages it had earlier decreased and the hand itself didn't look as bad then I thought it was. Feeling just a small pang of guilt, as I stopped eating for a few moments to drink some water from the glass cup and jug on the side table and I decided that it probably wouldn't be too much trouble to ask. "How's your hand?" I ask in a murmur before I let out a small cough and looking back up to him.

Leaning in his chair, he had one leg crossed over to the other while he was doing something on his cellphone. "It's fine." He grumbles a reply taking his eyes away from his phone to look and gives me a mean sidewards glare. "There's no need for you to keep worried about it, I already forgave you didn't I?" I could instantly tell that he was annoyed, so I quickly nodded and looked back onto my food, feeling a little awkward for even asking him. I decided not to say anything else to him, not wanting to force the conversation on as I resumed eating my meal. For the rest of the time, while I was eating the meal, neither of us said a thing to each other and I barely made eye contact with him as I was soon finished eating all my food.

"Thanks, for…—**_ACHOO_!**" As I shifted myself to Chūya and was about to thank him, my words were overtaken by an abrupt sneeze. Sniffling, I took the tray off my lap and placed it back on the side table as it was before and realised that I didn't yet get to dry my hair before Chūya came to serve me dinner. _'There weren't any cupboard or anything in the bathroom aside from the towel and soaps.'_ I thought this, thinking back on what I found in the bathroom as I picked up a small strand of hair that had fallen out of my hanged up towel and fiddled it around in my thumb and index finger. _'Maybe I could ask Chūya for an extra towel? Maybe a hairdryer if possible?'_ However, before I could think of asking, Chūya suddenly arises from his chair, takes the tray, and walks towards the door without giving me a word. He leaves the room with me sitting dumbfounded and a little downcast for not quickly asked.

After a few minutes went by, I felt sure that he wasn't going to come back. So as I got up from my chair, I looked through the bathroom for something I could use to dry my hair. The towels I had around my hair and the one I had to dry my body with were far too wet for me to use, and I remembered that they were the **_only two_** that were hanging on a rack in the bathroom. After some time went by, from outside the bathroom I heard the door open. As I walk out, I see Chūya, who instead of a dinner tray, in his hands he was now holding both a small black brush and a hairdryer. I walk out of the bathroom up to him to grab them, but as I reach out, he quickly pulls it away from my hand just as my fingers barely grazed it. I look at him questionably and a feeling a little surprised as he gives me a dull neutral expression in return. Just as I was about to ask him to lend it to me, he then said in a deep demanding tone, "Sit down." I blinked at him conflicted. "What?" I asked, thinking that maybe he meant something else or not understanding his meaning. "Just do it." He says to me again, his voice only sounding a slight bit irritated knowing that I heard it the first time.

Not wanting to make him mad. and thinking he would do something if I stood there questioning it, I hurried over to the closet chair, looking back behind me to see him slowly walking behind as I sat down. From as far as my neck could turn behind me, I see Chūya approach and stop right up from behind me and the chair. "Turn around." He orders as his emerald-green eyes look down on me coldly. I whipped my head around facing the front, trying to see what he was doing from the corner of my eye as I heard a bit of rustling noises coming from the side table next to me. Though for a few moments that I couldn't tell what was happening, I slowly felt his hand grab onto a bundle of my hair, and as I could hear the hairdryer being turned on from behind me, without any warning I felt the hot rapid blow of the hairdryer being directed into the back of my head. Being a little startled, I try to push away as my hair felt like it was being pulled and scorched by the heat on top of my head.

"Stop squirming." I hear Chūya say to me arrogantly, letting go of my hair to grab my shoulder and pull me back up against the chair (which startled me even more). "Your hair's not gonna dry up itself. Sit still till I'm done." Though I wasn't sure what to make of his reasons for why feeling a little awkward I silently sat in the chair trying to be as still as possible and to not squirm while he continued drying my hair. For about 10 minutes after, apart from the occasional flinch of a strand of hair being pulled, he started to manage my hair a little more gently, and as the sound of the hairdryer stops and the hot heat from it moves away from my head, I felt relieved that it was finally over and done with.

However, just as I turned to thank him shyly, he then picks up the hairbrush and I felt myself being to panic. "I can do it myself!" I then tell him quickly as I tried sounding appreciated, but it ended up sounding shaky. But whether he didn't hear or was just ignoring me, with a neutral expression he turns my head back to the front, grabbed onto a warm bundle of my hair, and started to brush it without me giving him any kind of consent. In my mind, I sighed. _(though I didn't mind him being ('nice'?), it sort of weirded me out a little.)_ First, he dried my hair, and he was now brushing it as if I were a doll. I didn't know what to think of it honestly. Unlike when he was using the hairdryer, how he brushed my hair was more gentle, and that at times I would sort of flinch every time I felt his hands lightly brush against my neck or if he held my shoulder to tell me to sit still.

_'Dammit. Will you just sit still already?'_ I hear Chūya's voice, sounded as if it was only a distant echo and almost in a whisper. As I turned my head to him, he looked at me a little irritated. "What?" he asked me in a low tone that didn't seem like the voice that I heard. "Did you say something?" I quickly asked him nervously. With a raised eyebrow, he replies with a simple, "No" before he lightly moves my head back forth and resumes brushing my hair. _'Maybe I'm just imagining things.'_ This was what I thought, however only just moments afterwards, I heard him again and I knew for sure that I wasn't. _'Geez, her hair is pretty thick. Tough to manage too.' _I freeze up at the confirmed realisation that I was now experiencing. Like when I was running through the crowded market district with all those people, I could _read his mind_! I was stunned in a panic state and I couldn't grasp the situation as to how or why I could hear his thoughts.

In Chūya's mind, his voice sounded softer and gentle-like, compared to the tone he was using talking to me with his real one. Though without intentionally meaning too, as he continues to brush my hair while talking aloud inside his mind unconsciously, I couldn't help but listen to what he was thinking. _'I can't believe that the boss would even consider taking this brat into the mafia as a member.'_ I hear him say, his voice sounding irritated as it echoed and I listen with curious interest._ 'Although I agree that she has a beneficial gift we could use, she's still just a teenager. She lacks strength and agility nor could she even put up a fight against me and Akutagawa. It was like she was begging us to take her.'_ At his unspoken but heard words, I felt offended by his thoughts **_(insult)_** as I cringed my face into a small pout. His voice then changed into a nicer tone as he continued._ 'However I'll admit, she has balls. She's pretty brave not to be here and not panic in the kind of situation she is in right now. Plus for this kid to lose her parents at a young age and to live on the streets for 2 years, I can only imagine the kind of hardships she had to go through on her own.'_

_My parents… _Though the memories of them, back after and before the accident are still foggy to me now, as I slowly remember the strange dream with the man and woman— Yuki and Yuna, my mind was almost analysing and recollecting through the dream as it all suddenly came to me. It all made sense now. The car, the fire, being on the side of the road, the man, Yuki's familiar warm smile, his touch, and their voices… _They were _**_them_**_… _**_My parents_**_._ The dream I had, was a memory of the accident and how it took place. I then realised a lot of other things about my dream that I didn't think to question or wonder about. Like, in the hospital where I woke up after the accident, I was told that my parents and I were caught in a car crash by another driver. However, in my dream of the incident, there were no other cars around that looked to have been crashed. There was only ours. _So does that mean something else happened to use? 'We can't outrun them.' Were we being chased, and if so, by who? Could that have happened to us? What was the promise Yuki made me promise him to keep? 'No matter what happens, promise me that you won't use your ability.' Why would he make me promise something like that? _Then, an unpleasant thought entered my mind.

**_'Could he have been… scared of me? My ability. Did I… cause the accident? Could that have been the reason?'  
_**

Suddenly feeling my hands that were laid on my lap were becoming wet, I looked down and realised that my eyes had become watery as tears were rolling down the side of my cheeks as I slowly began to cry. Chūya saw too, and he at once stopped doing my hair as he quickly footed in front of me and looks onto my face looking surprised. "Hey kid, what's with the waterworks?!" He asked me in his real voice, sounding confused and panicked. I didn't answer him though, I only put my head in my hands and over my eyes, hiding my tears from him to see as I could feel my chest slowly aching and my breathing becomes uncomfortably hard. I let in and exhale deep breaths as my mouth began to let out silent sobs. The _reason_, the promise I made to Yuki that I now had long broken, was because he knew that it was dangerous. I wasn't the only one to think that, he knew too. Both Yuki and Yuna— my dad and my mom, they died because of something having to do with my power I still now possessed.

**_It's all my fault. _**"It— It's just not fair…" I whimpered as I tried my best to speak while choking back my sobs and tears. "What's not fair?" I heard him ask me with slight confusion in his voice. Still not looking up from my hands, I just continued talking, "I-I just wanted to have a normal life with my family… I only wanted to be like— _everyone else_… but I never wanted to have an ability! Why?! Was I the reason that they died?! Did my parents die because I had this power?!" My voice began to suddenly crack and I could feel it beginning to rasp and turn raw as it pained me to keep screaming. "They all call it a _gift_, but to me, it's nothing but a _goddam curse_! They are dead because of it! BECAUSE OF **_ME_**! I HATE IT!**_ I HATE IT SO MUCH!…_**" I broke out into a loud sob as many unwanted thoughts and feelings were swirling up inside me and turning my stomach. I started thinking about how I always felt like I was seeing myself as a danger. Though I was trying to live things normally with the way I lived on the streets with Howl, it felt like I was only hiding the fact that I was someone to be afraid of. This ability and having no control over it only gives me piled on reasons as to why I should hate myself for not being born like everyone else and for not being _normal_.

I could feel Chūya's presence as his footsteps slowly walk around and stop up in front of me as he looms over. At first, I thought he was gonna tell me to shut up or hit me, but except for that, I then could suddenly feel his hand resting on top of my head, caressing it as if he was trying to comfort me. I slowly look up at him, crouched down to meet my eyes, they were averted from mine and almost looked troubled, as if trying to think of the right words to say. Coughing lightly and shrugging his shoulder, he then speaks in a low tone that was almost struggling to sound gentle but gruff. "I'm not good at this sort of thing— with comforting people… but—"

I didn't let him finish what he was going to say before I pushed out of my chair and latched myself onto him in a hug, holding him tightly in my arms and not wanting to let go as new tears began to resurface my face. I felt his body stiffen in shock as his arms were hesitantly being held above midair. Though I was expecting him to push me back, he slowly then let his arms down and wraps his arms around my shoulder and back, making me feel helpless as I cried into his shoulder and clenched into his coat. I didn't remember how long we stayed in that position, but at some point, I knew that even though he didn't probably care for my feelings at all, in those moments he gave me a little bit of comfort that made the painful thoughts and emotions slowly vanish as fast as they invaded me. In those moments, I only imagined the feeling of being in a comforting embrace with Howl.

* * *

"You mean you don't remember anything after the accident?" Chūya asks me as I handed him back the dark handkerchief he lent me to use for my running nose and already gone-away tears. I nodded to him as I rubbed my puffy eyes with the back of my closed hand. "I didn't remember about my parents or the fact I even had an ability," I explained to him, couching a little at the back of my through and my voice feeling dry and sore from crying. "I thought I was just a normal kid. It was only till after I burned my orphanage down that I realised it for sure. From what I've learned out of using it, my ability is fire-based, but it's was very wild and difficult for me to control, so I tend not to use it."

In the end, I couldn't stop crying until later in the night. Chūya stayed with me, sitting on the bed and wrapping a blanket from the large bed around me, and without thinking I told him about my amnesia to the accident and my ability. Even now when I realised it was a foolish thing to do, I hated myself for blurting out everything to him while being in a defenceless and vulnerable position. What I was smart about though, was not to tell him about why I came to Yokohama to find a cure or that other strange things have been happening to me, like being able to read minds and predicting my death from being hit by a car. At the back of my mind, I wondered how Howl would have reacted or said to me for being too trustworthy to a man I barely met. Not to mention, who is also in the **mafia**. "How often **_do_** you use it?" Chūya then asked. "_Rarely_," I replied in a mutter with a quick answer, not wanting to go into any details. However, not seeing that, Chūya continued to ask me more questions. "Then how do you defend yourself?"

_Defend?_ I hesitate for a moment at his question, before I took a small breath. "I don't… I barely ever use my power. My friend— Howl, is the one who… _protects_ me." I said _'protect'_ slowly and feeling a little awkward and embarrassed admitting it aloud. Looking away from the ground, from the corner of my eye I see Chūya's face, his expression dumbstruck and confused but also a little curious. As I looked down at the floor again, my mouth slowly muttered on its own as I tried to explain. "He's been with me ever since I ran away from the orphanage. He found me on the streets on the brink of hunger, gave me food and shelter, even though we barely knew each other. Soon after time had passed, I told him about my ability, and since then, he has been the closest thing I could call family."_'Almost as if he was like a second father to me.'_ I then add thinking to myself as I felt a small smile prick up from the corner of my mouth. However, from beside me, I hear Chūya say to me bluntly in a cold tone, "Your friend won't be able to protect you tomorrow." As quickly as it appeared, the small smile I had faded. "You know that don't you?

_Of course, I knew that. _The thought of tomorrow terrifies me. I'll be alone. Howl won't be there with me and I would haft to fight on my own. Although I am already 15 years old and I should learn to take care of myself, Howl would constantly tell me not to use it, with him worried about my condition when coughing out blood and get weak after using my ability, he would never force me to learn at a fuller extent. In a fight without him and without me having any experience at all, I wouldn't know what to do with myself. My voice sounding shaky, spoke aloud to Chūya as I faced away from his gaze. "I do…but I don't want to fight." I paused for a minute, taking in a deep breath and letting my chest release some tension and the heavy feeling it gave me. "Ever since I ran away, I tried learning how to control it, I did, and even Howl helped me to control for small periods of a time, I would always risk putting myself in danger because of my weak immune system… I never use it because whenever I _'activated'_ it, I'd feel as if my body is not my own to control. I would be scared to put others' lives in danger and to make everyone scared of me because of something that is apart of me. I'm not a fighter, nor am I someone who could help others. All I am is a burden… to everyone around me…" As I say that last bit, I felt a pang of guilt and hesitance as I think of Howl. For as long as I've known him, he had always been there with me through both my best and my worst. Even after when he accepted me, my ability, and when we both became close friends, I felt as if I would have been nothing but trouble to him and feared that he secretly hated me, even with that bright gentle smile I always see him have.

I hear Chūya sigh next to me. "If you don't want to hurt people, then to avoid being forced to do it forever, you're gonna haft to fight." He said this to me in a cold tone that seemed like he was being blunt and not sincere. I turned to him as he continues. "It won't matter if you hurt your opponent. They won't care if you're scared or if you don't want to go against them, they won't show you any mercy because you're a kid either. Your only options are to surrender and join the mafia or to use your ability and hope that you'll have a chance at winning." He clenches his teeth as he finishes speaking, but that was before I then heard, _'Although I doubt you're even strong enough to go against him.'_ His subconscious voice said this in a pitiful tone of voice. In my mind, from hearing it from him I felt as if he knew about something, that he was hiding or holding back to tell me._ 'Him'? Then maybe…._"Do you know who's going to fight me?" I ask him hesitantly, as my heart began beating fast. For a few minutes he didn't answer, I couldn't hear the voice in his head and I was nervous to ask him again. Goosebumps crawled all over my arms and a shiver ran down my spine as the silence between us thickens intensely. He shrugs his shoulders after a moment, letting out a loud sigh and turning to me with a solemn expression, looking like he was trying to figure out what to say to me.

His face shifts into a serious frown, with his emerald eyes shining dimly as they look into mine. He speaks again in a low growl, "**_Akutagawa_**." At his straightforward response, my pulse drops its rhythm for a moment, quickening again rapidly as my breath seized. I instantly felt the sense of fear and adrenaline running through me. The way he— Akutagawa looked at me, back when he used his gift on me and with the vibe he let out when we walked passed each other, it made my heart sank hopelessly and I knew that there was no way that I could win, or even compete against someone like him. _He was— _**_a monster_**_._ Seeing my frightened and panicked mixed expression, Chūya slowly continues as he rests a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry kid, but the deal is done. There's no turning back—"

"BUT THAT ISN'T FAIR!" I forcefully shoved Chūya's hand off my shoulder as I rose to my feet and yelled at him loudly, startling both him and myself. "I can't use my ability as you or Akutagawa can! Even if I had a weapon, I wouldn't stand a chance against him! This whole thing is rigged,— I wouldn't be able to win!" My voice raised in anger, as I couldn't hold back the frustration filling up inside me and my throat turning raw. _No, it wasn't frustration… It was fear. _Though I tried acting as if it did make me angry _(and of course it did)_, I secretly knew that I was only looking for an excuse to conceal and hide the fear I was showing. Feeling my eyes water up, I fight back the urge to cry and I told myself not to break down. _'This was the boss's doing. He deceived me into thinking I could just simply win and walk out of here free.'_ "He knows that I will lose! HE ISN'T PLAYING FAIR! I CANNOT WIN—"

"YOU'RE NOT LISTEN TO ME DAMMIT!" Chūya then shouted as he too rises to his feet in front of me, grabbing my wrist tightly and forcefully pull me a few steps close to him, almost dragging me, and his face was inches away from mine. His mouth formed into a scowl and his eyes looked through mine intently enraged, it stunned me not to try and cut him off again a second time. "If you weren't so dense, then you probably would've realised that this was going to happen right from the start! He's not going to give a crap whether you want to fight or not, his goal is to keep you here one way or another! Life may have been different when you were living in the streets with your friend, but here you should at least know that you can't make a deal with the mafia when you're on our turf!

"_'Play fair'?!_ At the very least you should expect us to not be fair with even a brat like you! If you thought that you could somehow reason with the boss or squeeze your way out of this, it ain't gonna be that simple kid! You had no idea what kind of crap you got yourself into! The only reason why he made this deal with you is that you're not cable of fighting to save your own life!" At those words, it felt like I couldn't hold onto my composer any longer. Slowly lowering my head to the floor, I look away from his eyes and stared down at both our feet, I could feel the hold on my tears as they were falling from my eyes sockets. I then spoke to him, trying to speak clearly but failing as my voice became shaky. "So what you're saying… is that no matter how hard I try, I'll never win anyway… because I'm weak…" We both stood for a few moments in silence until Chūya's grip on my wrist slowly loosened as a small stream of tears began to pour down on my face and chin. Feeling his hand finally realising my wrist, I pull it away from him, taking a few steps to the bed beside us, and turned my back to Chūya as more tears began to rise. "I didn't mean it like that." I heard Chūya then said to me, his voice sounding hesitantly low and silent. "I'm sorry." I then heard him think _(say)_ subconsciously, _'Crap, I messed up.'_ My head then began to feel heavy and I almost scoff as I said to him weakly, "You are right…. I'm just… **_useless_**… and **_weak_**—"

"If you were weak, then there wouldn't have been a reason why you're here, right?" Chūya's voice cuts me off as his voice sounded cold. I blink through my tears, trying to wipe them roughly off my cheeks, trying to think and make sense of all this and the meaning of his question. _'Why am I here? What could be so special about me? I'm nothing but trouble for everyone. I can't control my ability, I couldn't even be of use to anyone. Why would the mafia want—'_ I suddenly felt Chūya place a hand on my shoulder, as he then said to me in a soft tone, "Look, I am sorry, alright? I'm not good when it comes to kids and their problems, and especially not ones like yours." He pauses for a moment, taking in a small breath before continuing. "There won't be anything that I can say to make this all go away, but you need to know, your ability **_can_** be controlled." _Controlled? _The very word almost made my heart tighten in the length for such a gift better than the one he or I possessed. "Though it might not be enough time before the test, I could…help you learn some techniques I use to keep your cool and teach you how to use a gun, only if you want." _Help me?_ I turn to look at his face in utter disbelief, almost speechless with conflicted feelings swirling in my chest. His face was neutrally sincere, and there wasn't the slightest hint of him lying. "Really?" I asked him in a weak voice, swallowing down on my throat.

He nodded to me in reply, his expression stoned. _He wasn't joking._ Without giving him a moment to allow consent, I ran into him, wrapping my arms around his back and into a tight hug. "Thank you! Thank you!" I exclaimed, my arms around him growing a little tighter. I could feel him patting my back a little roughly, and for a moment I thought that I was suffocating him without realising it. "Don't think too much into it kid," Chūya said to me, his voice sounding a little annoyed. "I know you're gonna get your ass kicked tomorrow. I'm only doing this because I was assigned to be your supervisor. The Boss figured I'd train you since it was your first fight."Even as he said that I was only ever thinking about the relief I felt. Though I knew and had doubts on whether he was serious, at the moment I genuinely thought that he was comforting me even more, reminding me of Howl and of the mission we are on, and somehow giving me hope for tomorrow. However, while I was still holding Chūya, I suddenly felt the air slowly turn cold and I had a strange feeling that we were being watched.

My eyes drift over to the window behind where Chūya and I were standing, and through the darkness around us, in our reflections, I saw a most terrifying sigh. Her long white hair shone in the moonlight, almost as brightly as her dark white-pupil eyes, staring intently into mine on her deeply marked face and instantly recognising her as the other _me _from my nightmare. She looked to be in the same place where I was, her figure behind the reflection of Chūya's back as if she was somehow replacing my mine with hers. A wide antagonising smile speaks across her thin lips and letting out a frightened gasp, I push away from Chūya. Backing away from the window to the bedpost behind me and nearly tripping myself over as I kept my eyes almost glued to that smiling demonic reflection. From the corner of my eye, I saw my reaction and scared expression, Chūya looks to where I was looking, but after as he looks back at me, his face didn't seem at all surprised or startled. "What is it?" He asked me, his voice sounding confused. _'He can't see her?'_ Though it was only for a moment when I looked at him in confusion, when I was about to tell him what I saw, looking back at my reflection, she slowly faded into the darkness of the night outside the window and disappeared, replacing nothing but my scared reflection staring back at me. Chūya walks up to me next to where I am standing, looking at the window and my reflection, of course seeing nothing of what I just saw moments ago.

"What's wrong?" He asked again, making me confirm that he didn't see my _other me's_ reflection. I didn't know what I should answer, she wasn't there anymore and I couldn't tell him otherwise, he'd probably think I was making it up. _Should I tell him? Would he believe me if I did?_ Instead, "I-It's nothing." I told him with my voice almost in a whisper. "I must have… sawn something else." However, with a heavy feeling in my stomach, I had a feeling, and I feared that what I saw was not just a hallucination for something from my dream. The words of the other me in the white cloak from my other dream began to reminisce and repeat in my mind. _'When the moon turns to blood, her chains will decay and she will attempt to poison your body, mind, and very being… _**_The Fallen Angel… will rise again_**_.'_

* * *

The next thing I knew, the night had passed and I was slowly awoken in bed by Chūya, who shook my shoulder lightly. "Time to get up kid." He says to me as my tired and heavy eyes see him vividly. Rubbing my eyes and clearing my blurry vision, I yawned to the morning sunlight shining through the massive windows that were still wet from the night before. "Brought you some clothes." Chūya then lays a pair of clothes on the edge of the bed beside where my feet were. I looked around to where I last left my clothes on the night before, then back at Chūya, who knew what I was trying to look for. "Don't worry, your old ones will just be getting a wash." He told me, standing at the side of my bed with his hands behind his back. "It'd be best if you use these for the time being until they're clean. Boss's orders." I looked down at the clothes again as I picked one of them up to see I was given a dark grey long sleeve shirt, along with a pair of leggings and a matching black jacket. "Thank you," I spoke to him in a small voice.

After taking 3 minutes to get changed into my new clothes and 10 for eating two bowls of rice and miso soup for breakfast, along with a few bodyguards, I was escorted out of my room with Chūya leading us at the front while heavy cuffs were tightly bonded to my wrists. We walked around marble and steel hallways for some time before walking down a flight of stairs and stopping at two large steel doors in a dark tunnel. As Chūya opened both of them, we walked through and entered into a massive concrete room that was the size of a gym_. _Against the walls of the room were racked shelves of dumbbells, one line mannequins with another line of paper targets, and a rectangular square mat that stretched out from both sides of the room. The most disturbing thing I noticed about the room, was that there were no windows of any kind and the only sources of light were from the small lights in the wall above us and there were only a few vents that were on each corner of the room below the ceiling. Chūya then turns to us and looks over to me, putting out his gloved hand _(the one that I did not hurt)_ and steadily holding it up as a red glow surrounded it. I could suddenly feel the cuffs around my wrists shake, and before I could think of what was happening, just like magic they both break off and fall to the floor with a loud clang. The tightness that was around them decreased, and feeling the swelling around the faint red marks around them, I rub the sides of both my wrists as Chūya turns to face to rest of the men behind me. "Leave us. I'll be fine with her." He tells them in a serious tone _(which I thought sounded pretty badass)_. I turn to the men as well, who look at each other uncertainly, then to me before back at each other again in uncertainty. It was almost as if they were questioning Chūya for his actions on realising me from my cuffs. One of the suited men in front, who was the one on the left side of me, then speaks out to him. "But sir—"

"_I said _**_leave_**." However, before he could get a few words out, Chūya cuts him off in a scowling voice as his eyes narrowed threateningly. This made him stop him short, muddling up his words, and also made the other men hesitant and silent too, like they knew that another word would mean trouble for them. So without saying another word more from any of them, they all walk out of the room. I could hear the steel doors being locked from the outside and leaving both me and Chūya are left on our own in this massive room. He sighs loudly, taking off his black trench coat, revealing an open black crop jacket with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows underneath, and walking towards the middle of the room. "Alright, we have less than 3 hours in here to train and prepare you for the test." He said aloud to me. "After that, we'll move you to the arena. Got it?" He looks at me and I nodded to him in reply, just as he turns throws his coat onto as he then adds, "You said before that you were able to control a bit of your ability, right?" I answered him, "Yes." My voice sounding none-enthusiastic.

He nodded turning his back to me again as he continues, "Then we should start with working on improving your ability on what you can control. We'll work our way from there and then in the next hour we'll move onto teaching you how to use a weapon. You should use a gun, but I think it's best if we should start with…." As Chūya was explaining, I barely paid attention to his words as my thoughts were elsewhere. Although for the whole of last night, he had been there to comfort me, offered to help me, and listened to me when I was in a vulnerable place, I didn't know whether I could trust him or not. _Knowing about my power and my weakness in not knowing how to use it, would he help me control it, or use it to his advantage, or tell his boss? _I suddenly felt something hit my forehead a little hard, breaking me out of my thoughts, I realised that Chūya had lightly hit on the head, and was now standing in front of me, looking a little pissed, seeing that I was not listening to what he was talking about.

"Your spacing kid." He said to me, planting down a light hit on my forehead again and clicking his tongue in annoyance. "Either you can bother listening or you can try figuring out how to fight on your own." I quickly nodded apologetically, but his face didn't look satisfied with my response. "What's on your mind?" He asked, somehow seeing that I was distracted. "I…" Though I was about to make up some kind of excuse for my thoughts of suspecting Chūya, my words fumbled as I questioned myself on if I should whether or not ask if I could trust him and confess my thoughts. _'After what he's doing for me— and for last night, maybe I'm just being too distrusting in his help. However, could he be on my side? Even if the boss— Mori, ordered him to prepare me for today, does he even bother about what would happen to me if I win or lose?' _So inhaling a small breath and clearing my muddled thoughts, I asked him in a clear voice as I tried not to sound accusing or arrogant. "How do I know… that I can trust you to help me?" For a few minutes, he didn't reply, but as if finding out what I was to mean towards him, slowly Chūya's expression shifts and his eyes narrow as he turns away from me and walks over to the other side of the room. I instantly regretted both my insecurities and what I said to him, thinking that I was maybe too straightforward and mean on my question. However, I then hear Chūya mumble aloud in a low growling voice, "I guess that's the thing; **_you don't_**." I was confused by his words, however before I could say anything back, Chūya then shifts on his right foot and turns around to face me as a red aura surrounds his body.

The soil ground beneath me begins to shake steadily and I am overwhelmed as I could feel a strong force coming from Chūya surround the atmosphere, making my body feel uneven and intimidated. Putting one foot in front of the other as a half- sneer spreads across his face. "You ready?" He asks me, daringly as his eyes glowed menacingly from where I stood. Though not knowing what to do, I get into a fighting stance and began taking in deep breaths as I slowly activate my ability as it slowly takes form. Inhaling a deep breath in, I repeat to myself the same words I would repeat every time I used it, over and over like it were a prayer I'd use to slow down my breathing heart and keeping my composure. _'Don't lose control.'_

**_To be continued in Part 2…_**


	9. Author's Announcement

_**Author's Announcement:**_

_**Hey Guys, RyanF0ster here! **_

_**I honestly thought I did a terrible job at making this conclusion to Part 1, even after all the hard work I put into it to finish this month, but**__** I've tried to do my absolute very best to make sure that the last chapter of ****"Part 1 - Ability"****, is a real cliffhanger for what's to come! **_

_**I wanted to let you all know that though I am planning on releasing a Part 2, I will be focusing more on writing short stories and the new MHA fanfic that I have made a collaboration with my cousin, who although is not fully involved in the making of the story they are always a great help to me in it when I need their guidance and laughter. (We had a lot of fun when discussing character names; this will hopefully be revealed soon if requested. ;)**_

_**This year has been taught on all of us, we can all agree on that. For me, and although it was difficult having not to go to school I was able to get many benefits out of staying home. I gotta better my writing from the support others have given me to continue. I am happy to go out to see my friends and enjoy what outside time I have, but I will still be forever indebted to writing stories for you all to enjoy!**_

_**Anyway, for the rest of the year and before the summer holidays begin, at the start of December I will be working on a one-shot of the anime 'given' ****(the story inspired by a close friend)**** and it'll be released sometime during the final few weeks before Christmas (hopefully). Next year when the school year starts, I will be writing the **__**second chapter to the MHA story "The Scars That Never Healed." **__**and in the meantime, while doing so I will then be working on the making of Part 2 later in the year 2021!**_

_**Thank you all for supporting me and following up when I post! Like I've mentioned in my previous chapters if you want to know when certain fanfics are gonna be realised or if you want to know more about what I'm planning to post in the future, visit my profile page for the latest updates.**_

_**Please comment down below and tell me how you've all enjoyed the story so far and with kind ****regards and best wishes for the holidays, RyanF0ster!**_


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